Can Benzema come back and play for France? Situation ahead of England World Cup QF explained
12/06/2022 08:00 AM
England take on France in what is set to be a mouthwatering World Cup quarter-final on Saturday, and there have been plenty of questions about Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema.
The 34-year-old suffered a thigh injury in training at the start of the tournament, which initially looked set to rule him out of the entire World Cup campaign as France aimed to defend their title.
However, England and Gareth Southgate could now be in for a shock.
Can Benzema come back and play for France against England?
To put it simply, yes.
According to RMC Sport, Benzema is still eligible to feature for France in Qatar if he can recover from his thigh injury, as he remains on the list of players registered to appear at the World Cup.
Didier Deschamps replaced the injured Christopher Nkunku with Randal Kolo Muani, although the 54-year-old interestingly decided against calling up an alternative to the Real Madrid No.9 in Qatar.
Onda Madrid add that Benzema has enjoyed a smooth recovery process, and has progressed quicker than initially expected.
BBC Sport claimed that the Ballon d’Or winner’s recovery process required three weeks, which – if you took the time of the injury announcement, which was November 20th – would see the striker return to full fitness by December 11th.
England take on France this Saturday – which is December 10th – inside the Al Bayt Stadium, and with Benzema ahead of the expected three week recovery period, he could end up facing England in dramatic circumstances.
If not Saturday, the France international would have a much better chance of appearing at the semi-final stage, should France overcome England.
France still a threat for England without Benzema
With or without the Ballon d’Or winner, France still pose a real threat to England.
Deschamps can call upon Olivier Giroud, who just became France’s all-time top scorer in the 3-1 win over Poland with his 52nd international goal, as well as Kylian Mbappe, who needs no introduction.
The Paris Saint-Germain No.7 scored two goals in the 3-1 win over Poland to take his World Cup tally to nine in total, having netted five times in Qatar, and four at the 2018 World Cup as France went all the way.
Mbappe has now overtaken Diego Maradona, Cristiano Ronaldo and Thierry Henry in the World Cup scoring charts, which is quite frankly ridiculous at the age of just 23.
Clearly, England still have plenty to worry about, regardless of Benzema taking part or not.
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