France boss Didier Deschamps made two surprising selections in his final training session before the World Cup final, with neither Raphael Varane or Olivier Giroud picked in a training match.
The reigning champions take on Argentina at the Lusail Stadium on Sunday afternoon and, after a virus scare, had a full selection of players to pick from on the eve of the match.
Varane, Ibrahima Konate and Kingsley Coman were all isolating earlier in the week, while Aurelien Tchouameni and Theo Hernandez had been struggling with knocks.
But all 24 players in Deschamps’ squad are available to face Argentina and, according to French newspaper L’Equipe, he had the players practice in what appeared to be something close to their starting XI on Saturday night.
However, in the heart of the defence it was Konate and Dayot Upamecano who lined up alongside one another at centre-back.
It would be a massive surprise if experienced Manchester United defender Varane did not make the starting line-up, and it is more likely that Konate and Upamecano were simply given some pitch time together as a precaution.
Varane is doing much better after coming down with the same virus that kept Adrien Rabiot and Upamecano out of the semi-final win over Morocco, and Deschamps is likely to count on a player that has been a bedrock of his long, successful reign as manager.
Perhaps more interestingly, Giroud was also absent from the XI that trained in the final session and there are no suggestions that the AC Milan striker is either injured or ill.
In his place, Kylian Mbappe lined up through the middle and Marcus Thuram played off the left wing – which is how France ended the match against Morocco and looked much better for it.
Thuram brought pace, power and directness to the attack and was praised by Deschamps and his team-mates for the impact he made off the bench.
The rest of the XI Deschamps fielded was as follows: Hugo Lloris; Jules Kounde, Dayot Upamecano, Ibrahima Konate, Thero Hernandez; Antoine Griezmann, Aurelien Tchouameni, Adrien Rabiot; Ousmane Dembele, Kylian Mbappe, Marcus Thuram.
Deschamps is believed to be somewhat in the dark over how Argentina will line up and has prepared for three different scenarios.
Lionel Scaloni could opt for a back three, with Lisandro Martinez coming back into the defence on the left-hand side, or switch to a 4-3-3 with Angel Di Maria returning to the starting XI on the right wing, or stick with the midfield-heavy formation that overcame Croatia with Leandro Paredes added to the midfield.
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