2022 WC Finalists (Mbappé, Tchouaméni, Koundé)

Lore & Background

By the autumn of 2022, the France national team had become a living bridge between two eras. The veterans who had lifted the 2018 trophy—Griezmann, Pogba (injured and absent), Lloris—were fading or gone, and the mantle had passed to a younger spine. Mbappé, already the face of the team after a breakout 2018, had matured into the undisputed talisman. Behind him, Tchouaméni had carved out a starting role as a deep-lying, ball-winning midfielder, while Koundé, primarily a center-back at Barcelona at the time, offered the defensive solidity and progression of the ball that Deschamps's system demanded—though he did start the final as a right-back.

Reader's Guide

Era name: The 2022 Summit. Manager: Didier Deschamps, in his eleventh season in the role, running the same compact, possession-pressing 4-2-3-1 that had delivered the 2018 title. Tactical DNA: low defensive block in transition, rapid vertical passes to the wings, and an absolute dependency on Mbappé's one-on-one threat to break down parked buses. The system rewarded discipline over individualism in defence and freedom in attack.

Core group: Mbappé (the engine), Griezmann (the link and the penalty specialist), Tchouaméni (the deep-lying shield), Koundé (the progressive centre-back), Theo Hernandez (the left-back engine), Ousmane Dembélé (the right-wing chaos), and Hugo Lloris (the veteran keeper in his swansong tournament). Emotional arc: A slow, confident rise through the group and Round of 32, a peak of collective belief in the England and Morocco knockout wins, and then the brutal, agonising fall of the Lusail final—three goals, a 2-1 lead, and a penalty miss that turned a championship into a footnote.

Pivotal matches: The 4-1 demolition of Australia (the awakening), the 2-0 Morocco semifinal (Tchouaméni's goal, the collective statement), and the 3-3 / 4-2-on-penalties final vs Argentina (the summit, and the fall).

Did You Know?

• Mbappé's hat-trick in the 2022 final made him the first player to score three goals in a World Cup final since Geoff Hurst in 1966, and the youngest to do so since Pelé in 1958.
• Tchouaméni was only 22 during the 2022 World Cup, starting every match as the deep-lying playmaker, but he did not score in the semifinal against Morocco—France's goals came from Theo Hernández and Randal Kolo Muani.