France Feels Inevitable

World Cups are rarely wire-to-wire coronations.

In fact, the competition is so fierce, and the margins so small, that usually there isn't a single clear "best" team that goes ahead and wins it all.

In 2010, you could argue that Germany looked stronger than eventual champions Spain up until the Spaniards pulled off a narrow 1-0 win against them in the semifinal.

The Dutch were probably the strongest team overall in 2014, even though they fell to Argentina in the semis.

As the legendary final itself demonstrated, there wasn't terribly much separating France from Argentina in 2022 either.

Really, of the most recent four tournaments, only France in 2018 looked like the best team throughout the competition and then confirmed that sense by winning.

It's no surprise, then, that the French appear to be on the verge of pulling off that same feat again, coming off a 2-0 domination of Morocco in Thursday's quarterfinal that once again had Les Bleus seeming unstoppable.

This has been, more than anything, a World Cup of stars.

Lionel Messi has been astonishing for Argentina, Erling Haaland has Norway one game from the semis on the sheer power of his goalscoring, and Harry Kane stands in Norway's path as England's best player (and, if it's not him, it's Jude Bellingham, another star playing up to his maximum level).

France's strength is that it is the only team that can boast a roster for full of stars, one in which no one player is needed to win.

Of course, France does that have a leading star in Kylian Mbappé, but it also has Michael Olise, and Ousmane Dembélé, and Désiré Doué, and William Saliba, and Dayot Upamecano, and Bradley Barcola off the bench.

Not all of those players are, by definition, stars, but they are all so talented that it's impossible to focus on one player in order to shut down France.