Sports Mole previews Sunday’s World Cup Qualifying – Europe clash between Azerbaijan and France, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Aiming to conclude their World Cup 2026 qualification campaign unbeaten, North America-bound France visit Azerbaijan in Baku on Sunday evening.
Les Bleus recorded a routine success over Ukraine earlier in the week, whilst Milli suffered a damaging defeat at the hands of Iceland.
Match preview
Stuck in a complete rut on the international stage, Azerbaijan extended their winless run in all fixtures to a staggering 14 matches on Thursday night, when their faint World Cup dreams officially ended with a gutless performance and 2-0 defeat to Iceland in Baku.
Still with a fighting chance of earning a top-two spot and making March’s playoffs, the visitors produced an inspired first-half display to collect maximum points on the road, with Fiorentina playmaker Albert Gudmundsson finding the net once again for his nation.
Failing to score in a match for the third time in this qualifying group, Azerbaijan sit rock bottom of the section standings with just a single match left to play, six points behind Iceland and Ukraine in second and third respectively, meaning that Sunday’s hosts know their fate.
Milli have failed to win any of their last 14 matches across friendly and competitive fixtures, with their most recent success arriving all the way back in June 2024, when fellow UEFA minnows Kazakhstan were defeated 3-2 at Haladas Stadion in Hungary.
Aykhan Abbasov’s men are understandably massive underdogs ahead of this weekend’s clash and will be looking to avoid consecutive losses at the hands of the 2022 World Cup finalists, with France beating Azerbaijan 3-0 at Parc des Princes in October.
Rather unsurprisingly, France booked their spot at next year’s World Cup in North America with a routine 4-0 success over Ukraine in the French capital on Thursday night, when Kylian Mbappe bagged a brilliant brace to move one step closer to breaking a national record.
The Real Madrid superstar reached 400 career goals thanks to his work against Ukraine and jumped up to 55 strikes for the senior team of Les Bleus, with the 26-year-old just two goals away from equalling the 57 goals netted by all-time leading goalscorer Olivier Giroud.
Extending their unbeaten run across all competitions to six matches (W5 D1) earlier in the week, Didier Deschamps‘s men moved up to 13 points in Group D of UEFA qualifying, six points ahead of both Iceland and Ukraine with just the single match remaining.
France are now on a mission to conclude their qualification campaign without defeat, whilst also seeking to improve on their most recent away match on October 13, when Les Bleus could only manage a share of the spoils in Iceland despite Christopher Nkunku and Jean-Philippe Mateta goals.
A subplot of this international break for France, N’Golo Kante is back in the senior squad following his impressive displays in the Saudi Pro League for Al Ittihad, with the two-time Premier League winner desperate to add a second World Cup honour to his CV next summer.
Azerbaijan World Cup Qualifying – Europe form:
L D L L L
Azerbaijan form (all competitions):
L L D L L L
France World Cup Qualifying – Europe form:
W W W D W
France form (all competitions):
W W W W D W
Team News
After failing to find the net against Iceland last time out, Azerbaijan are set to make some changes to their attacking department this weekend.
As a result, the likes of Tural Bayramov and Khayal Aliyev could drop out of the XI, making room for the introduction of Rustam Akhmedzade.
With World Cup qualification already secured, France could opt to make a whole host of changes to their team for Sunday’s clash in Baku.
Les Bleus will be forced into at least one alteration, with Roma midfielder Kouadio Kone picking up a suspension-inducing yellow card during the win over Ukraine.
Not featuring on Thursday night, Eduardo Camavinga has been sent back to Real Madrid following complaints of a slight thigh issue.
Scoring his maiden goal for the senior side last time out, Liverpool’s Hugo Ekitike could make the starting XI for the battle with Azerbaijan, as Mbappe has also withdrawn due to injury.
Azerbaijan possible starting lineup:
Bayramov; Badalov, Mustafazade, Krivotsyuk; Huseynov, Makhmudov, Khaybulaev, Abbasov; Akhmedzade, Aliyev, Akhundzade
France possible starting lineup:
Chevalier; Gusto, Konate, Saliba, L Hernandez; Zaire-Emery, Kante; Nkunku, Cherki, Barcola; Ekitike
We say: Azerbaijan 0-3 France
The whipping boys for the whole of this qualification campaign, Azerbaijan are in line for another difficult evening on Sunday against France.
Les Bleus are likely to make a raft of changes to their XI with a World Cup spot already secured, but they should still possess enough quality to put a few goals past the hosts.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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