
The Manchester United and France national team midfielder Paul Pogba is sidelined for France’s upcoming world cup qualifier games. Reuters reports that Pogba was seen limping out of the training session on Monday with the team coach Frank le Gall. Later the French Federation put out a statement to provide the injury update on their Starman. The statement said, “Paul Pogba is forced to withdraw from France’s next two games at the Parc des Princes against Kazakhstan and against Finland in Helsinki.” AS Roma’s Jordan Veretout will replace the Manchester United player. The 28-year-old midfielder has 4 goals and 2 assists in the 12 games he has played for Roma in Serie A this season.
France currently is the leader in group D. They have 12 points from 6 previous games, and a victory against Kazakhstan will confirm their qualification to the World Cup Finals next year. Coach Deschamps, however, has warned his team from taking the game lightly. Although the Kazakh team has lost their 7 group games, Deschamps believes that players should remain focused and work to achieve their goal of Finals qualification. They should abstain from getting ahead of themselves and imagine that they have already qualified for the Finals considering that they face Kazakhstan in their next game. “We are going into the game with all our determination and strength to win,” the coach said.
Post this match, France will take on Finland in Helsinki on Monday.