Liverpool defender Mamadou Sakho is hopeful that France can surprise at next month’s World Cup.
Les Bleus laboured through qualification and needed a play-off victory against Ukraine to secure their place in Brazil, but Sakho remains confident that France are good enough to have a successful tournament.
“What I like about football and what really pleases me is the unexpected, when things happen that you don’t think can happen,” he told FIFA.com. “I would like to think we have players who can achieve things at a World Cup.
“No one thought we were going to turn around the result against Ukraine in the play-offs (trailing 2-0 from the first leg) but we managed to do that, which delighted the people of France and was a real surprise.
“It is a case of going there (to Brazil) with a quality squad and seeing how far we get. People are not expecting us to do well so maybe it is a case of reversing that.”
Sakho, who has been capped 16 times by France, joined Liverpool from Paris Saint-Germain in September 2013 for £15 million. This season, the 24 year-old has made 18 appearances, scoring one goal.
