William Saliba is not in France's starting line-up for their second game of the 2022 World Cup against Denmark.
But in truth, Didier Deschamps' decision to leave the Arsenal defender on the substitutes bench once again shouldn't come as much of a surprise considering what happened the last time Les Bleus faced Denmark - which just so happened to be 62 days ago in a UEFA Nations League fixture.
The hosts were victorious by two goals to nil, but it was a forgettable night for Saliba. In the absence of Manchester United's Raphael Varane, he made his fourth start for the France national team - although, after a less than convincing 45 minutes, he was hauled off at half-time alongside Real Madrid midfielder Eduardo Camavinga.
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As explained by Deschamps, the reason behind his decision to withdraw the two youngsters at the break was because of their inexperience and he even appeared to hint at his team selection process for the tournament in Qatar.
"I don't think it’s a shipwreck, we also had a lot of chances but we were ineffective, we made some errors when playing out from the back," Deschamps told TF1 after the game. "It’s a young French side, where the majority of the players don’t have experience at the very highest level.
"It’s not a question of formations, but when you have four corners and a Danish player is left alone each time, you can play with three, five or twelve at the back, it doesn’t change a thing. There’s no need to worry, the fact that the players with international experience are coming back will do us good.
"There were four in a row [where they put us in trouble]. Maybe it was a bit of naivety on our part, and Denmark played well by making blocks but it shouldn’t have happened. There are recurring situations. There were three times when Thomas Delaney and Andreas Christensen alone were free. At the top level that gets punished."
With that game still very much fresh in the memory of Deschamps, it's no surprise that he has decided to recall Varane to the starting line-up and keep Saliba on the bench as Denmark have proven to be a tricky opposition for the reigning world champions in recent meetings.
Furthermore, in the 'Behind the scenes at the Arsenal 2022 World Cup shoot' video uploaded to YouTube, the Frenchman was discussing his World Cup call-up and he made reference to the game against Denmark: "No, because on the last game, I didn't play well," he admitted. I wasn't sure bro. But maybe the three or four before, some of those games, started to tell me that I would be in the squad."
Saliba's self-assessment indicates that he would have understood Deschamps' call as perhaps he is being saved from another struggle, but this time on football's biggest stage, as France look to end a run of three games without a win against Denmark.
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