“Les Bleus” have won the World Cup twice and lost two other finals on penalties in the last seven editions, including the most recent in Qatar, where they were beaten by Argentina after Kylian Mbappé scored a hat-trick in a dramatic final.

This will be France’s final tournament under veteran coach Didier Deschamps, who has been in charge since 2012 and is widely expected to be succeeded by Zinedine Zidane.

France’s challenge

Deschamps is aware of the difficulty of the group. France have previously stumbled when entering tournaments as favourites, most notably in 2002 when, as defending champions, they were eliminated in the group stage without scoring a goal.

At that time, they lost their opening match to Senegal in Seoul, and they will hope history does not repeat itself when they face the “Teranga Lions” again in their opening match, this time at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on 16 June.

Deschamps said: “It is one of the toughest groups, if not the toughest.”

He added: “We have a brotherly relationship with Senegal because many dual-nationality players have played in French clubs and know the French players. Norway is also a very strong European side.”

France possess a formidable attack that is the envy of world football, led by captain Mbappé, the La Liga top scorer this season with Real Madrid, and Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé, alongside players such as Michael Olise and Rayan Cherki.

Group rivals

Senegal’s 2002 victory over France helped launch their best-ever World Cup run, reaching the quarter-finals, and they will be hoping for another deep campaign.

However, their preparations have been overshadowed by the aftermath of the Africa Cup of Nations final in January, when they beat Morocco 1–0 after extra time.

Controversy surrounding the match in Rabat, when Senegalese players left the pitch in protest over a late penalty awarded to the hosts, later led to the team being stripped of the title by the Confederation of African Football, with an appeal submitted to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Senegal are still led by Sadio Mané, 34, of Al Nassr, who missed the previous World Cup through injury.

Norway have also returned to prominence, qualifying for their first World Cup since 1998 and first major tournament since Euro 2000.

Their progress under coach Ståle Solbakken is built around Erling Haaland, Manchester City’s 25-year-old striker and one of the best centre-forwards of the modern era.

Norway begin their campaign against Iraq in Boston, then face Senegal at MetLife Stadium before returning to Boston to meet France.

That match is expected to feature a direct showdown between Premier League top scorer Haaland and Mbappé. Haaland scored 16 goals in eight qualifying matches, including home-and-away wins over Italy.

He is supported by players such as Arsenal playmaker Martin Ødegaard and Atlético Madrid striker Alexander Sørloth.

Solbakken said: “We believe we have a strong squad… we have achieved excellent results over a long period.”

Iraq’s opportunity

All three teams will be aiming to qualify, with the top eight third-placed teams also progressing to the round of 32.

For Iraq, simply participating is considered a major achievement, as their only previous World Cup appearance was in 1986. They secured qualification by defeating Bolivia in an intercontinental play-off held in Mexico in March.

Coach Graham Arnold told AFP: “We have finally qualified. If you look at every player and every team, and the transfer values of all players, we will probably be the lowest ranked at the World Cup.”

“But this is the World Cup. Anything can happen.”