Chelsea Players in Action at the World Cup: Friday Round Ups

On Friday, there was final round of the group stage action for a few Chelsea players. Let's take a look at how they got on. 

In Group I, Malo Gusto was once again named amongst the substitutes by France manager Didier Deschamps, as they took on Norway in what a lot of people were calling the stand out game of the group stages. Maxence Lacroix - who L'Equipe report will join Chelsea after the tournament - made his first start of the campaign.

Albeit against a heavily rotated Norway side, without the likes of Erling Haaland, France seriously impressed and won the game 5-1, to secure their spot as Group I winners.

For their first knockout stage game, Les Blues will play a third placed side on Tuesday at 22:00 BST. It will be against a side from Group C, D, F, G or H - so it could be the likes of Paraguay or Sweden, with the latter looking the most likely as it stands. So, we could see Gusto's side come up against former Chelsea boss Graham Potter.

Meanwhile, in the same group and at the same time, neither Mamadou Sarr nor Nicolas Jackson were named in the Senegal starting XI for their must win game against Iraq. The former was still waiting for his tournament debut.

With 33 minutes remaining, Jackson came off the bench, whilst Sarr was an unused sub for the third game in a row, his World Cup debut will have to wait. Though it looks like that potential opportunity will come soon, as Senegal ran out 5-0 victors, in the biggest ever victory from an African side at the World Cup. 

They currently sit in fifth place out of the third placed sides, with the top eight progressing, so whilst it is not yet guaranteed, there spot in the round of 32 is looking likely, and it is possible they face England. 

Just last June, Senegal beat England 3-1, so they would feel somewhat confident in that game. However, the meeting before that was in the World Cup knockout stages, with England running out 3-0 winners. 

Meanwhile, as a quick aside whilst on the note of Chelsea and the World Cup - there are a lot of reports saying that Reece James will miss England's next two games with a hamstring problem, so he could miss a potential match up with Jackon, Sarr and Senegal.