'World Cup curse has begun': Fans worried about France's Qatar 2022 campaign after Nations League shocker

With just under two months left for the Qatar World Cup 2022, fans of the France football team have been left worried following their side's dismal show in recent times. On Sunday, Didier Deschamps' men put up a disappointing performance in their 2-0 shock defeat to Denmark in the UEFA Nations League at Copenhagen, sparking massive outrage across social media platforms.

A six-minute first-half salvo from Denmark's Kasper Dolberg and Andreas Skov Olsen sunk the French team, as their poor form continues with just one win in six since March. 

However, France's coach Didier Deschamps calmed concerns following the defeat to reduce the panic and also suggested that the result did not represent the capability of his side. The French manager claimed the loss resulted from his decision to field an inexperienced side rather than any tactical issues.

"'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. It's a young French side, where for the majority of the players don't have experience at the very highest level," Deschamps said in his post-match interview.

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"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," he added.

"There's no need to worry. Having the players with international experience back will do us good. There's no worrying; it's difficult for everyone. Last night I was watching other games, there are other big teams that are losing as well. We shouldn't think of ourselves as better than others. We're going to have to fight," the France coach added.

Several star players of France like Karim Benzema, Hugo Lloris, Paul Pogba missed the UEFA Nations League owing to injuries. Deschamps decided to bench Raphael Varane and Ousmane Dembele for Sunday's clash to give his less-experienced players more game time.

Despite having a World Cup-winning front three in Olivier Giroud, Kylian Mbappe, and Antoine Griezmann, France struggled to score any of their seven shots on goal during the encounter. 

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Deschamps will, though, take satisfaction from the fact that, as he pointed out, France is not the only team to experience difficulties before the World Cup.

Hungary upset Germany at home on Friday, and England hasn't scored an open-play goal since beating Ivory Coast in a friendly in March. As several pre-tournament favourites stumble in their final preparations, Spain has only won twice in six matches.

Meanwhile, fans of the defending World Cup champions took to Twitter to express their disappointment over the French team's performance, with some even stating that the 'curse has begun'.

Here's a look at some of the reactions: