London: Denmark coach Age Hareide accused Paul Pogba of only caring about his hair as he labelled World Cup opponents France as "nothing special".

The Norwegian's side will come up against France, as well as Australia and Peru, in Group C at the showpiece tournament in Russia.

Manchester United star Pogba is set to play a key role for Didier Deschamps's men, but Hareide slammed the 25-year-old.

"He played against Manchester City with his hair dyed blue and white, maybe he'll have it red and white to play us," he told a Danish newspaper. "Does he only think about his haircuts?"

France are ranked seventh in the world and will enter the World Cup as one of the favourites.

While accusing Les Bleus of lacking leadership, Hareide said he had seen nothing for his team to fear. "I don't believe in this team," he said.

"The teams at the top of the world rankings are the best in the world, but this is not the case for France. I saw France against Sweden in Stockholm. They are nothing special."

Denmark open their World Cup campaign against Peru in Saransk on June 16.

France built their 1998 World Cup-winning squad around a rock-solid defence but 20 years on they could do just the opposite, with their dazzling array of creative, attacking talent ready to make all the difference at the 2018 edition.

Such is Les Bleus' firepower up front that manager Deschamps even has the luxury of not missing Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema, who has not been selected ever since being involved in a sex-tape blackmail scandal in 2015.

France can not only call on Paris St Germain prodigy Kylian Mbappe, but also Atletico Madrid's Antoine Griezmann.

In sharp contrast, the back four have been a recurrent problem for Deschamps.

Neither Samuel Umtiti nor Raphael Varane have been convincing this season as France, while twice using them as their centre back pairing in their last three matches, have conceded six goals.

To add to the concerns, centre back Laurent Koscielny has been ruled out of the tournament injured, limiting the coach's options.

Pogba, following a see-saw season at Manchester United, where manager Jose Mourinho has been starting him only sporadically, will have a lot to prove at the World Cup.

Yet France have weapons which should see them at the very least progress from Group C, with a potential quarter final against Spain or European champions Portugal on the horizon.

For while Pogba has struggled, holding midfielder Blaise Matuidi has in one season become a cornerstone for Juventus, while Corentin Tolisso has also dramatically improved at Bayern Munich.

Indeed, Tolisso could end up paired with the Juve engine instead of Pogba, or even Ngolo Kante.

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday said he would travel to Russia for the soccer World Cup if France reach the semi-finals, turning a deaf ear to calls from human rights groups to boycott the tournament.

Human rights groups calling for the boycott over Russia's involvement in Syria's civil war met with Macron's advisers earlier this week, saying it would send a strong symbolic message if the 40-year-old leader did not attend the World Cup. Agencies