N’Golo Kanté was the heartbeat of the France team that surged to the World Cup title under Didier Deschamps in 2018. But eight years later, the star midfielder has not played a single minute at the 2026 World Cup as France crashed out in the semifinals. When fans felt players far inferior to Kante were taking to the pitch, they slammed the embarrassing bias of the head coach.
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France coasted to the World Cup semifinal without breaking much of a sweat, and fans believed perhaps Kante, at 35, was being rested. But with Kante eventually not getting a minute, questions started to arise. It turned to criticism when Spain inflicted a 2-0 defeat on France, and Kante was just left as a spectator on the bench, unable to help his team as he played zero minutes at the tournament.
France was utterly outclassed in the middle against Spain. Spain’s Rodri dictated the play as France barely laid a glove on them. This is where a few fans felt Kante could have impacted the game.
“In their last game against Spain, they should have at least subbed him in, especially because they needed a man-to-man marker that could control that midfield for them💔. Cherki and Kone barely influenced the game at all,” a fan wrote on X, lamenting how France’s midfield of Rayan Cherki and Kouadio Kone couldn’t press Spain in the second half.
However, it is worth noting that at 35, Kante had his fair share of injury struggles in the past. Although he is still performing at the club level for Fenerbahce and Al Ittihad, previously, performing on the international stage was always harder. But even at this stage of his career, a few felt he was better than what France had at the Wolrd Cup currently.
“Kante won the Saudi League Cup last year with Al-Ittihad, carrying the team along with Benzema, a difficult task going up against rival Al-Hilal. Tchouameni is mediocre, and Rabiot is coming off the bench at AC Milan Juventus,” a fan criticized the performances of Aurelien Tchouameni and Adrien Rabiot, who were picked ahead of Kante.
Benching Kante, despite his quality, made a few fans believe Deschamps treated him unfairly. Calling him up to the World Cup squad despite having no plans of using him made them wonder.
“That is embarrassing for a player of Kate’s calibre. Why waste his entire holiday when you knew you were not going to play him? Even when your third group game was a formality. That’s unfair,” they wrote.
Kante starred at the 2018 World Cup and missed out on the 2022 World Cup due to a hamstring injury. Having just returned to the national squad and not playing a minute, there is a great chance he could end his World Cup career with just those iconic seven performances from the 2018 campaign.
“Kinda surprising because France cruised through the group stages. I thought he could have had a couple of minutes. There’s still a chance at the 3rd place match, though,” a fan felt there could still be a chance for him to add a cap during France’s 3rd-place game with either England or Argentina.
“Man, it hurts watching legends get disrespected like this. Kante gave everything for France over the years; that engine never stopped. To drag him to the WC just to bench him the whole time, that’s Cold from Deschamps,” another believed Kante’s service for the French national team was not respected at the 2026 World Cup.
