Can anyone beat France? A brief history of ‘unstoppable’ teams at the World Cup
France have cruised into the last 16 and their attack looks lethal - but are they truly unstoppable?
Another match, another masterclass: France’s 3-0 win over Sweden and their dominant second-half display have now established Les Bleus as the firm favourites to win the 2026 World Cup, and you have to dig pretty deep to find a pundit who doesn’t view them as the best team at the tournament.
Between Kylian Mbappé, Michael Olise and Ousmane Dembélé, they have perhaps the best attack in the world and are already the World Cup’s leading goalscorers with 13. They have four wins from four, and haven’t even come close to enduring an upset. But they also wouldn’t be the first side to fall short after a promising start.
Are France unstoppable? World Cup history suggests otherwise
The history of seemingly overwhelming favourites failing to win the World Cup is a long one. Perhaps the most famous example of all came way back in 1954, when Hungary’s ‘Magical Magyars’ went to Switzerland with a gilded attack that was expected to steamroll all opposition.
Ferenc Puskás, Nándor Hidegkuti and Sándor Kocsis were their era’s equivalents to Mbappé, Olise and Dembélé and they started the tournament in suitably imposing fashion with a crushing 8-3 win over West Germany. They put nine past South Korea and four each past Brazil and reigning champions Uruguay. By the time they reached the final, the apparent advantage they had over any possible opponent vastly exceeded the gap that France have established over their rivals in 2026.
Hungary didn’t win their World Cup, of course. Matched up against the same West German side that they had dismantled easily in their opening game, they were beaten 3-2 in a result so shocking that it became known as the ‘Miracle of Bern.’ The Magical Magyars went down in history as probably the greatest team never to win the tournament.
1954 provides perhaps the most extreme example of a seemingly unstoppable side falling short, but not the only one – just ask the Brazilians, who have crumbled from strong positions on several occasions.
In both 1982 and 1986 they were widely viewed as one of the best teams in the world and won their first four matches with ease, just as France have, before suffering surprising defeats to Italy and (as it happens) France themselves, who beat them on penalties in the quarter-finals in Mexico. Neither failure, however, is as infamous as their collapse in 2014.
Brazil entered the tournament as hot favourites on home soil and eased their way into the semi-finals before they were mercilessly ripped apart by Germany in a 7-1 defeat that left a gaping psychological wound in the nation’s footballing consciousness. Most pundits expected Brazil to win the World Cup. Instead they were embarrassed and eviscerated.
There are, of course, plenty of pre-tournament favourites who did indeed win the World Cup but many of them stumbled along the way – Spain lost their opening match to Switzerland in 2010, for instance, before finding their form. Quite a few eventual champions stumbled early, from West Germany back in 1954 to Argentina just four years ago in Qatar.
Early tournament form is, in short, no guarantee of sustained success. France should know this well, given that their 1986 win over Brazil isn’t even the only time that they’ve taken down a team with a perfect record - Belgium’s golden generation were unbeaten until the semi-finals in 2018, when they ran into Mbappé and his ultimately victorious cohorts.
How good have France really been so far?
So will France prove to be a modern-day answer to the Magical Magyars? There’s no guarantee that they’re even that far ahead of the competition – it’s still debatable as to just how sternly Didier Deschamps’ side have been tested.
They have won every match but have faced some distinctly obliging opposition. Senegal gave them a rough ride in their opening group stage game but since then they have been playing on easy mode: Iraq finished with the worst record in the tournament, Norway put out a reserve team, and they then beat a mediocre Swedish side who had barely scraped into the round of 32 after being torn apart by the Netherlands, who were knocked out at the next opportunity.
France have scored for fun but so too did the Netherlands and Germany, who remain joint second in the scoring stakes but have both been sent home after losing penalty shootouts.
France now face the same Paraguay side which beat Germany earlier this week, with Morocco potential opponents after that. Should they face the African champions (court cases pending) then it might arguably represent the first genuine test of their credentials. France can only beat what’s been put it front of them, but they wouldn’t be the first side to ease past a string of less potent teams only to crumble when faced with truly first-rate opposition.
It’s also worth noting that despite the scorelines, they weren’t always entirely dominant in the group stages. Against Senegal, territory was almost entirely even, while Norway generated a higher xG total despite losing 4-1. France’s midfield has not controlled games as completely as might have been expected, and 15 teams have enjoyed a higher percentage of possession thus far.
None of which changes the fact that France have some breathtakingly good players. Their front three has the skill and flair to pick almost any side apart, and they have been in utterly ruthless form. France have earned their place as favourites – but there are reasons to remain doubtful, both from World Cup history and among the statistics from this year’s tournament. France are a very fine side indeed, but their supposed unstoppable force remains unproven. For now.