How France avoided the curse of previous World Cup winners | Chris Evans
16-Dec-2022 14:30:35 | The Guardian
Recent world champions have put up embarrassing title defences. What have France done differently?
By Chris Evans for The Set Pieces
The World Cup winners’ curse has been haunting teams for six decades. If France beat Argentina on Sunday, they will become the first team to retain the World Cup since the Brazil side of Pelé and Garrincha in 1962. Didier Deschamps’ side have already overcome one curse by reaching the final, which is a huge achievement considering how poorly recent winners have performed while defending their titles.
Four of the previous five World Cup winners failed to get past the first round of the next tournament, so what looked like an easy group for France – Australia, Denmark and Tunisia – was not as simple as it initially appeared. Add to that the slew of injuries France suffered before the tournament and it seemed likely the curse would strike again.
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