France star Paul Pogba ruled out of 2022 World Cup with knee injury
France will be without another key midfielder when Les Bleus begin their World Cup title defense next month at the 2022 event in Qatar.
A little more than two weeks after it was revealed that N'Golo Kanté wouldn't be recovered from his torn hamstring in time to participate in the planet's most popular sporting event, Paul Pogba, another vital member of France's 2018 World Cup-winning side, has been ruled out after suffering a setback from the knee injury he originally sustained in July, according to his agent. Pogba was hurt in a preseason match with Italian club Juventus and hasn't played since. He had the knee operated on in September.
"Paul Pogba will still need recovery time from his surgery," the agent, Rafaela Pimenta said Monday in a statement shared with Agence France-Presse and other outlets. "For this reason, Paul will not be able to join Juventus' squad before the World Cup break nor the French national team in Qatar."
Pogba, 29, was instrumental in his country's 2018 triumph, starting six of France's seven games. (He was rested for the group stage finale against Denmark after Les Bleus had already qualified for second round.) He played every minute of the knockout phase, including the 4-2 win over Croatia in the final.
Monday's news is the latest setback in a string of them for Les Bleus coach Didier Deschamps. France enters the 2022 World Cup, which begins when the hosts meet Ecuador on Nov. 20, having won just once in their last six competitive matches.
Pogba had been in the news earlier in October, as the victim of an extortion plot allegedly involving his brother. Another potential off-field distraction involved star forward Kylian Mbappe, who boycotted a pre-World Cup photoshoot over an image-rights dispute with the French Football Federation that has since been settled.
Drawn into Group D, France plays its World Cup first match Nov. 22 against Australia. They'll face the Danes — a squad that has already beaten Les Bleus twice this year, including in September in their final pre-tourney game — four days later before wrapping up their group slate Nov. 30 versus Tunisia.
One of the most talented Qatar-bound teams even without Pogba or Kanté, France has a recent history of imploding at every other World Cup. The last time they entered the competition as the titleholder, in 2002, they went winless in three matches and failed to score a goal. They also bombed out in the first round in 2010, four years after losing on penalties to Italy in the final at Germany '06.
One of the leading soccer journalists in North America, Doug McIntyre has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams at multiple FIFA World Cups. Before joining FOX Sports in 2021, he was a staff writer with ESPN and Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.
