Brazil champion, Andrés Guardado back PSG star Dembélé for France

Dunga, the Brazil world champion, and Andrés Guardado pushed Ousmane Dembélé into the center of France’s World Cup debate as Didier Deschamps opened the tournament with a 26-man squad and the pressure that comes with favorite status. The Paris Saint-Germain forward was being framed not as a luxury, but as the player who could decide whether France’s attack stayed merely talented or became ruthless enough to win the whole thing.

Dembélé arrived with numbers that explain why the attention had sharpened. Paris Saint-Germain said he scored 33 goals in 46 matches in all competitions during the 2024-25 campaign, including 21 in Ligue 1. That output turned him into one of the most dangerous attackers in Europe and gave France a front-line reference point with real end product, not just reputation. PSG later said he carried a hunger for titles before the Champions League final, a description that matched the urgency around his World Cup role.

France entered the tournament with Deschamps in charge and a squad announced by FIFA on May 11, 2026. The draw placed France in Group I with Iraq, Norway and Senegal, while Senegal also arrived in East Rutherford for its own opener on the same day France began its campaign. France was widely regarded as one of the favorites, and that made Dembélé’s role more than decorative. His movement between the lines, his timing in transition and his decisions in the final third carried extra value in matches where the margins were expected to be thin.

Dembélé had already been signaling that the World Cup was his main target. CNN cited him in January speaking about a mission in the United States, and Goal reported in March that he believed he was in the best form of his career and wanted to win the World Cup with France. That is the sharper question now: whether Dembélé can turn a standout club season into the kind of precision, patience and final-ball quality that separates a dangerous side from a champion.