France’s Defence for FIFA World Cup: Saliba, Upamecano, and Lacroix
France’s defence for the FIFA World Cup looks settled on paper. On the teamsheet, William Saliba and Dayot Upamecano are the pillars, the clear first-choice pairing at the heart of Didier Deschamps’ back line.
On the pitch, it is already more complicated.
Saliba’s back, Deschamps’ headache
Saliba is playing through back pain, an issue serious enough that, according to L’Équipe, surgery is on the table once the tournament is over. For now he pushes on, managing the problem, but every minute he plays carries a question: how far can Deschamps really lean on him?
That uncertainty throws the spotlight on a role that usually sits in the shadows – the third centre-back, the first man off the bench, the one who has to be ready when a starter cannot be.
Up to now, that job belonged to Ibrahima Konaté.
Konaté slips down the order
Konaté should be stepping into his prime. Instead, he arrives at this World Cup on the back of a difficult season. His form at Liverpool has dipped, and those struggles have not stayed in England. They have bled into France’s preparation games, where the defender has looked short of his best.
For a manager as pragmatic and unforgiving as Deschamps, that matters. Rhythm matters. Reliability matters even more.
L’Équipe reports that Konaté may have lost his status as the primary back-up in central defence. The shirt, for now, appears to have changed hands.
Lacroix takes his chance
The beneficiary is Maxence Lacroix. The Crystal Palace defender has quietly forced his way into the conversation and, on Monday night, into the hierarchy.
In France’s 3-1 win over Northern Ireland, the moment of truth arrived at half-time. Saliba did not reappear after the break. The cameras waited for Konaté.
It was Lacroix who emerged instead.
That single substitution said plenty. When Deschamps looked to protect Saliba and test his alternatives, he turned to Lacroix, not to the man long considered next in line. In a squad as fiercely competitive as France’s, these are not random choices. They are signals.
Saliba and Upamecano remain the mainstay pairing, the duo Deschamps trusts to anchor a World Cup campaign. But with Saliba nursing a back that may need surgery and Konaté slipping out of favour, the landscape behind them is shifting fast.
Maxence Lacroix has stepped into the gap. The question now is whether he can hold it when the World Cup pressure really bites.
