As might have been expected, France kicked off their World Cup qualifying campaign with a 2-0 victory over Ukraine in a match that wasn't as close as the scoreline might imply. Bayern Munich striker Michael Olise opened the scoring in the 10th minute after having been set up by Bradley Barcola. Somewhat surprisingly, despite being in total control of proceedings, Les Bleus weren't able to extend their lead before the half-time break.
Midway through the second half, Ukraine had two major chances in quick succession and almost made France pay for their inability to score any further goals. Both were headers; the first was from Artem Dovbyk whose header was cleared off the line by Ibrahima Konaté. Shortly after, Illia Zabarnyi's header came back off the post.
The score remained at 1-0 until the 82nd minute. Midfielder Aurélien Tchouaméni sent a long ball forwards in the direction of Real Madrid teammate Kylian Mbappé who beat Zabarnyi in a one-on-one scenario before finding the bottom corner of the net - his 51st for France, tying him for second all-time with legendary striker Thierry Henry. However, it wasn't all good news for France as prior to that goal, both Désiré Doué and his replacement Ousmane Dembélé left the match injured.
For almost a decade now, France have been the most consistent threat to win major international football tournaments; this match revealed nothing new in that regard. France didn't even need to come close to their peak level in order to easily dispatch Ukraine. Everything about this performance indicates that they will once again be among the favorites, if not the outright favorite, to win the 2026 World Cup.
To say that this team is outrageously stacked would somehow be an understatement. Against Ukraine, players like Dembélé and Hugo Ekitike (the latter of whom was actually playing his first-ever match for his national team) came off the bench while even Marcus Thuram and Theo Hernández, among others, stayed on the bench for the entire match. It's this remarkable depth which has been the backbone of their consistent tournament success dating back to Euro 2016 when they reached the final.
In addition, the fact that France almost always go deep at major tournaments has a "rich get richer" effect on their squad in terms of big-match experience. Many of France's best players aged 25 or younger have a great deal more experience under the highest pressure on the biggest stages than do their peers from different countries. It's entirely possible that this will end up making a major impact at next year's World Cup.
There's also the manner of how France lost in the final of the 2022 World Cup. Having come so agonizingly close to becoming the first team to win back-to-back World Cups in 60 years, France will be especially fired up to win it all in 2026. The memory of their loss in the final in Qatar might just have been the additional fuel they needed to end up being the final team left standing at the end of next year's tournament.
Topping things off, it's often the case that teams which either win or go deep at the World Cup have a core primarily comprised of players from the same club. This is understandable as such cores would have the advantage of pre-existing chemistry. In France's case, they're fortunate enough to have two such cores: one from Real Madrid, another from Paris Saint-Germain. This additional team chemistry was on full display in France's second goal against Ukraine with Real duo Tchouaméni and Mbappé looking as though they had never left the Santiago Bernabéu for the international break at all.
While of course, it's true that it's way too early to make a sweeping statement that France will win the World Cup, there's no question that they're in a really strong position right now. Their decade of dominance is all set to enter a second one with no signs of a end anywhere in sight.