MOSCOW, June 20 (Xinhua) -- When France kick off against Peru in their Group C game on Thursday, no doubt most of the attention will be on strikers Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe, but N'Golo Kante is the midfield rock on which the French side is built.
Decisive in Leicester City's incredible charge to the Premier League in 2016, Kante then joined Chelsea and helped them win the title as well a year later.
He only made his France debut in March 2016, but 25 caps later, the 27-year-old is now a fixture for coach Didier Deschamps.
"It was special to arrive in Russia. It has taken a lot of work and effort to get here and I feel very proud," Kante said in an interview with FIFA.com on Wednesday.
The midfielder won the ball 14 times during France's narrow 2-1 win over Australia in their opening group match but insisted that individual numbers didn't matter to him.
"What matters to me is winning. It was vital for us to come away with three points," he said, resting importance from his role in the team.
"I'm just a defensive player. It's the lowest position. I've got the ball-carriers in front of me, and it's our job as midfielders to link up with the defense and pick out the forwards so we can create chances," added Kante.
The midfielder stressed that it was not just the forwards who are important to the French side and highlighted the contribution of goalkeeper Hugo Lloris against Australia.
"Without him, we'd have gone behind in the 20th minute, so we were grateful to him," he explained.
Kante concluded by saying that he expects another tough game against Peru, as "they play with a lot of commitment."
