World Cup 2022 – Group D Preview

Which teams are in Group D at the 2022 World Cup?

France are the big favourites to progress from Group D, although every one of the other teams in this group – Australia, Denmark and Tunisia – will fancy giving ‘Les Bleus’ a hard time in Qatar. Denmark were semi-finalists at Euro 2020, Tunisia gave England a scare at the last World Cup and Australia are always competitive. France have had World Cup meltdowns before and will need to be on their guard to prevent it happening again this winter.

Learn more about the 2022 World Cup groups

How did each team in Group D qualify for the 2022 World Cup?

France qualified as winners of a fairly-straightforward group, and they put some of their weaker opponents to the sword – not least the 8-0 thrashing of Kazakhstan in Paris in which Kylian Mbappe scored four times. Denmark were also group winners, winning nine of their 10 games and pushing Scotland to play-off elimination.

Tunisia won their qualification group and then eliminated Mali over two legs in the final round, while Australia needed a play-off win after finishing third in their group behind Saudi Arabia and Japan. In a match held in Qatar, the Socceroos clinched their World Cup spot by knocking out the UAE.

What is the World Cup pedigree of each team in Group D?

After failing to qualify in 1990 and 1994, France have emerged as one of international football’s superpowers over the last couple of decades. They are the defending champions after thrashing Croatia in the final of Russia 2018, adding to their triumph in 1998. Despite a star-studded squad, France fans may be wary of the fact that the last two times France reached the World Cup final, they didn’t win a game at the following tournament.

Australia have qualified for the last four World Cups in a row and will hope to match or better their 2006 best performances, where they reached the last 16 before losing to eventual champions Italy. Tunisia themselves are yet to make it out of the group stages at a World Cup and have never won more than one game at any such tournament.

Only once in their history have Denmark won a knockout game at a World Cup, and that came all the way back in 1998. However, the Danes were actually unbeaten at the 2018 tournament, in which they – like Australia – were also drawn in a group with France.

France and Denmark are favourites to qualify from the group, with the defending champions odds-on to top the table. At 3/1, Tunisia are the outsiders to reach the knockouts.

Who are the best players to watch out for in Group C at the 2022 World Cup?

Karim Benzema – France

Kylian Mbappe continues to be a global star, but it’s hard to look past Karim Benzema’s remarkable recent achievements which culminated in his Ballon d’Or win just prior to the World Cup. Benzema scored 44 times for Real Madrid in 2021-22 and is the first Frenchman to win the award since Zinedine Zidane in 1998.

Christian Eriksen – Denmark

Christian Eriksen is always a great player to watch, but there will be an extra level of good will in the air when the Danish playmaker takes to the field in Qatar, just over a year after he suffered a cardiac arrest while playing for his country. Eriksen’s return to high-level football is one of the most uplifting stories in the game, and he scored just two minutes into his international return for Denmark in March this year.

Mat Ryan – Australia

An experienced shot-stopper who played over 100 times for Brighton, 2022 will be Mat Ryan’s third World Cup. He was named Best Goalkeeper when Australia won the 2015 Asia Cup and has had the distinction of captaining the Socceroos on that occasion. Ryan will have the challenge of keeping Karim Benzema, Kylian Mbappe and the rest off the scoresheet in Qatar.

Wahbi Khazri – Tunisia

It was a team effort for Tunisia as they qualified for Qatar 2022, with the goals shared around the whole team – including an own goal by Mali that sealed Tunisia’s place at the tournament itself. Wahbi Khazri, though, struck three vital goals in qualification, and the Montpellier number 10 will look to add to his tally in Qatar.

When do the 2022 World Cup Group D matches take place?