Following France’s successful opening to their title defense against Australia in 2018, Ousmane Dembele claims he has “matured” both personally and as a player.
The Barcelona winger began as Didier Deschamps’ team triumphed 4-1 in Al Wakrah after overcoming an early Craig Goodwin opener with goals from Olivier Giroud twice, Adrien Rabiot, and Kylian Mbappe.
Four years ago, when Les Bleus defeated Croatia in the World Cup final in Russia, Dembele was an unused replacement. This time around, he wants to contribute to what he thinks will be a second straight World Cup victory.
After a protracted dispute over his future at the club, his Blaugrana play has improved, and he believes he is now more equipped to perform for his country in Qatar 2022.
“There has been three difficult seasons with Barcelona,” he stated. “When you look at the first two games [I played in] 2018 and this year there is a lot of difference.
“I have matured. I didn’t have a healthy lifestyle as you can imagine, [though] it wasn’t a party! But I’m a little older now, [at] 25.”
With their comeback against Australia, France avoided an upset, but other heavyweight favorites have had less luck so far at the World Cup.
Lowly Saudi Arabia shocked Argentina, and Germany, who was trying to bounce back after a humiliating campaign in Russia, was unable to stop Japan’s comeback.
Dembele claims that it serves as a reminder that no game at Qatar 2022 would be simple and that larger teams should never write off notional underdogs.
“There are no small teams,” he added. “Everyone knows how to play football, how to work on tactics. We saw that with Saudi Arabia.
“When you lower the intensity, you get trapped. But with our team, if we put all the ingredients together, we will not have to worry.”
Before their final group stage match against Tunisia four days later, France’s next game is against Denmark in Group D on November 26.
