What ex-Sheffield Wednesday star Josh Windass has said about France’s World Cup squad | OneFootball

Didier Deschamps' team look like the team to beat in the knockout stages

The FIFA World Cup 2026 has gripped many across the globe, with the 23rd edition of the tournament now in the knockout stages after initially commencing with 48 nations for the first ever time.

Co-hosted between the United States, Canada and Mexico, the tournament has also received plenty of backlash because of developments both on and off the pitch, with those developments starting shortly after the draw was made on the afternoon of December 5th, 2025.

Indeed, all three co-hosting nations have now secured their passage into the round of 16 after victories against Bosnia and Herzegovina, South Africa and Ecuador, and they will now face off against Belgium, Morocco and England respectively.

That said, the tournament has already seen its fair share of surprises, such as Germany, who have severely underperformed at three World Cups since winning the trophy in Brazil 12 years ago, losing on penalties to Paraguay on Monday evening, with Julian Nagelsmann subsequently stepping down from his position, joining Ronald Koeman of the Netherlands in doing so after a defeat on penalties, with the latter going out to Morocco.

Paraguay's own campaign wasn't exactly flawless in their Group D encounters with the United States, Türkiye and then Australia, but progressed into the knockouts as one of the eight-best third-place finishing sides.

As such, after toppling 'Die Mannschaft', are preparing to face the might of France under Didier Deschamps.

And, while he will, more than likely, be hoping that football 'comes home', current Wrexham forward and ex-Sheffield Wednesday favourite, Josh Windass, has made his stance on the 2018 winners and 2022 finalists pretty clear on social media ahead of their last 16 tie against the South Americans.

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Before the World Cup began, many had looked at 'Les Bleus' as the team to beat if any other nation was to lift the trophy at New York New Jersey Stadium on Sunday, July 19th.

Deschamps had already confirmed that the current major tournament would be his seventh and last combined UEFA European Championship or World Cup campaign, having won the latter in Russia by defeating Croatia 4-2 in Moscow, while also winning the UEFA Nations League in October 2021 against Spain at the San Siro.

With the 26-man squad littered with quality both in the starting lineup and on the substitutes' bench, it isn't hard to see why Windass shares the same view of many across the world.

France were certainly not at their fluent best in their Group I opener against Senegal, but emerged 3-1 victors as Kylian Mbappé surpassed Olivier Giroud's prior all-time leading goal tally for the nation in the process with a double, before again netting twice in the 3-0 win over Iraq.

Current Ballon d'Or winner and UEFA Champions League winner, Ousmane Dembélé, then got himself a hat-trick in the 4-1 rout over a much-changed Norway side, before they overcame Sweden's initially robust defence to secure a 3-0 victory on Tuesday.

Mbappe is now the tournament's all-time leading scorer in knockout games, and already has six goals to his name in the race for a second successive Golden Boot against Lionel Messi, both of whom have now overtaken Miroslav Klose's previous record of 16 all-time goals in the World Cup.

Yet, while it has been well-documented that many of England's players had prior spells in the Championship, League One and League Two, another standout player with EFL links has been Michael Olise, once of Reading, with the playmaker providing five assists thus far.

Taking to his Instagram story, Windass reposted a picture of the France squad with the simple caption of: "How you beat these boys" with three laugh emojis.

France's potential path to World Cup glory as Josh Windass drops claim

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As previously mentioned, France are hot favourites to succeed where Germany failed against Paraguay on Saturday night in Philadelphia, and should they overcome that obstacle, they will face either Canada or Morocco in the quarter-finals on July 9th in Boston, with there being a potential rematch of the 2022 semi-final in Qatar as a result.

One of the quartet of Portugal, Spain, USA or Belgium would then await in the semi-finals, and many would back Deschamps' team against any of said opponents, three of which have certainly been unconvincing in terms of performance levels despite their progress to the round of 16.

Then it would, in the general view, be a final against one of Argentina, Brazil or England, all of whom are on the opposite side of the draw, albeit if Thomas Tuchel's side defeat Mexico at the Azteca Stadium on Monday, they could have another mouth-watering clash against Carlo Ancelotti's side in the quarter-finals.

However, France will be more determined than ever to end their current manager's reign on the highest of highs and win a third World Cup in their history, with Deschamps already winning one each as a player and then in the dugout.