JULY 1 ― A little more than six months ago, when France backed into the World Cup by overcoming a 2-0 first leg deficit to defeat Ukraine in the play-offs, very few people would have seriously considered Les Bleus as genuine title contenders.

And that would have been even more than case had we known that Franck Ribery, arguably their best attacking player, would miss the tournament through injury.

Yet now, with Didier Deschamps's men looking forward to Saturday’s quarter final meeting with Germany, I’m swaying towards believing that France ― if they play to their potential ― could even end up lifting the Jules Rimet trophy in Rio a week on Sunday.

It won’t be easy, of course: after Germany, they will most likely have to defeat a pair of South American giants in the form of Argentina ― Messi and all ― and Brazil ― Neymar and all.

But France’s progress so far throughout this tournament, and the dramatic nature of their improvement over the last few months, makes them impossible to discount.

All over the pitch, France possess excellent individuals who are now forming a coherent team unit, including a particularly enviable sprinkling of youth talent. Indeed, with Rolls Royce Raphael Varane marshalling the back four and Paul Pogba rampaging through midfield, it could easily be argued that France possess the best two players aged under 21 on the planet.

Both played full roles in Monday’s last sixteen meeting with Nigeria, which France ended up winning 2-0 despite rarely producing their best football.

Pogba’s powerful bursts from midfield were a constant source of threat to the back-pedalling Nigerian defence, nearly leading to the opening goal with a powerful shot in the first half. And although it owed more to goalkeeper error than anything else, Juventus star Pogba ultimately provided the game’s crucial moment, heading home from a corner to open the scoring.

At the other end of the field, Varane provided a sense of calm assurance as his team withstood Nigeria’s attacking efforts with relative comfort, again playing with maturity beyond his years to make it almost impossible to believe that he’s only 21 years old.

However, perhaps the most eye-catching individual performance came from another young French player and the man who has most benefited from the absence of Ribery: Antoine Griezmann.

France's Karim Benzema (right) attempts to score against Nigeria's goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama during their 2014 World Cup round of 16 game at the Brasilia national stadium in Brasilia June 30, 2014. ― Reuters pic

The Real Sociedad forward, who has reportedly attracted serious interest from a host of English Premier League clubs, only started the game on the bench but was introduced during the second half when Deschamps came to the perhaps belated realisation that employing Karim Benzema on the left flank while Olivier Giroud occupied the central striking position just wasn’t working.

With Griezmann occupying the left wing position he fills to such good effect from Sociedad and Benzema back in his more familiar central position, France were a team transformed.

Having previously struggled to unduly trouble Nigeria’s defence during the second half, they hit the bar through Yohan Cabaye, had a dangerous low cross from Benzema cleared inside the six yard box and saw a shot from Benzema cleared off the line. Suddenly a goal looked inevitable, and it duly arrived when Nigeria keeper Vincent Enyeama flapped at a cross to give Pogba a simple header.

France never looked back and a late own goal ― at least partially forced by pressure from Griezmann ― gave the scoreline a somewhat flattering look and further erased Les Bleus’ haunting memories of their dreadful campaign in South Africa four years ago.

Now Deschamps has a big decision to make ahead of Saturday’s meeting with Germany: whether to keep faith with Giroud in the starting line-up or replace him with Griezmann, who made such an impact yesterday.

I think he should take the latter option. Germany will be an altogether stronger test than anything France have faced so far and they would be likely to punish a repeat of the level of performance produced by Deschamps’ team in the opening hour against Nigeria.

The remainder of France’s team is very stable, with tiny winger Mathieu Valbuena a firm fixture on the right wing, a nicely balanced midfield trio of Pogba, Cabaye and the energetic Blaise Matuidi, a back four containing Varane, Laurent Koscielny, Patrice Evra and Mathieu Debuchy and captain goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.

The big concern is injuries or suspensions because there’s a significant lack of strength in depth behind that excellent starting eleven, but if they can enjoy a bit of fortune and maintain their spectacular recent improvement, they could quite easily go all the way.

*This the personal opinion of the columnist.