France show potential without Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann as Les Bleus build towards 2026 World Cup

The October international break is now over for the France national team with two more wins under their belt to improve their UEFA Nations League standing and more or less book their safe passage into the knockout phase. Didier Deschamps' squad was deprived of captain Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann with the latter retiring shortly before this latest camp and the former now embroiled in controversy following a trip to Sweden while Les Bleus were on duty which the Real Madrid man had been excused from.

A 4-1 win over Israel in Hungary last week was followed by a 2-1 away victory against Belgium in Brussels on Monday night for six points from a possible six which arguably leaves the French one point short of a top two finish which would send them into the knockouts. Paris Saint-Germain's Randal Kolo Muani was the surprise hero for France at King Baudouin Stadium with two goals on top of his assist against the Israelis which is a good haul and healthy dose of minutes for someone as limited for playing time as the 25-year-old currently is.

Kolo Muani's 2024 has been far from impressive yet he has managed to be a thorough nightmare for the Red Devils with four decisive goals against them at UEFA Euro 2024 in Germany but also home and away against Domenico Tedesco's side in the UNL. Mbappe's Real teammate Eduardo Camavinga as well as Chelsea's Christopher Nkunku, Lazio's Matteo Guendouzi and PSG's Bradley Barcola also got goals against Israel last week in what was a glimpse of the future for Deschamps.

Nkunku and Guendouzi are two of the players who will be vying to replace Griezmann long-term while Bayern Munchen's Michael Olise was also part of the October crew although he was an unused substitute against the Belgians. France continue to perform better without Mbappe with September's 2-0 success secured without the skipper on the field for most of it and these two triumphs obtained without the former Parisien superstar even present on the roster.

Popular opinion has started to turn against Mbappe in recent months with his start to life with Real not yet what was expected and more questions than answers regarding his continued below-par form across all competitions with club and country. Los Blancos teammate Aurelien Tchouameni stepped up to replace him with the armband and although the Israel test went reasonably well, he was red-carded late on in Brussels which is hardly ideal when you are auditioning your young leadership credentials.

It remains fairly unconvincing under Deschamps but he does have this France side back to within one single point of Italy at the top of League A Group 2 with two games left to play which includes a trip to take on the Azzurri in the closing UNL fixture for Les Bleus. With a top two position more or less assured already with a five-point advantage over Belgium with only six points remaining to play for means that a point against Israel or the Italians should be enough to reach the knockouts and finish an up-and-down 2024 on a positive.

How positive the outlook for 2025 will depend on the FIFA 2026 World Cup qualification draw which is coming in December with the French expected to be strong favorites ahead of the tournament which will be co-hosted by Mexico, Canada and the U.S. Deschamps is likely to remain in charge for that but the signs over these last few international breaks have been that this is closer to the end of his reign than the start so it will be interesting to see if he can resist doing without Mbappe again in November as this latest rebuild continues apace.