France arrive ranked third in Sportsvyn's Power Rankings with a score of 8.64, carrying a 26-man squad whose most distinctive feature is a nine-midfielder pool competing for a limited number of starting roles — Kanté, Tchouaméni, Rabiot, Zaïre-Emery, Koné, Thuram, Olise, Akliouche, and Cherki all listed in the same positional band. The five-attacker group, anchored by Kylian Mbappé, is comparatively compact. France enter Group I with that midfield depth as both their clearest structural asset and their sharpest selection question.

The group-stage opener arrives June 16 against Senegal — ranked 11th in Sportsvyn's Power Rankings with a score of 7.16, making them the higher-ranked side France faces first — at MetLife Stadium. That match begins to answer one concrete question the roster sheet raises: which midfield combination the selection settles on when the nine-player pool must be narrowed to a starting three or four. Does the depth of that midfield translate into a coherent unit, or does the volume of options leave the shape unsettled from the first whistle?