France 4-1 Australia
France have kicked off their title defence in World Cup 2022 with an impressive 4-1 win over Australia. Les Bleus, who were missing several key stars, including reigning Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema, fell behind and lost another key player to injury within the first few minutes. But the defending champions roared back to claim a comfortable victory.
Olivier Giroud, who replaced Benzema in the lineup, scored two goals as he tied Thierry Henry atop France’s all-time leading scorers list, while Kylian Mbappe and Adrien Rabiot also provided plenty of World Cup 2022 highlights with a goal and an assist apiece.
The injury-hit Les Bleus lost another key player with defender Lucas Hernandez suffering a serious knee injury. But the defending champions showed their remarkable strength in depth and quality up front, which will make them difficult to stop.
Highlights of the game
With Benzema out, Didier Deschamps started Giroud up front, with Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann, and Ousmane Dembele in behind. Aurelien Tchouameni and Adrien Rabiot formed a midfield pivot, while former RB Leipzig teammates Dayot Upamecano and Ibrahima Konate were the surprise centre-back pairing, with Lucas Hernandez starting at left-back.
However, Hernandez and France suffered a horrendous start to the match. The Bayern Munich defender fell to the ground while trying to corral Matthew Leckie, and the Aussie winger was able to find Craig Goodwin, who fired Australia in front after just nine minutes.
Lucas Hernandez was unable to recover and had to be replaced by his brother Theo. It was later revealed that Lucas suffered a serious knee injury and will miss the remainder of the tournament, another huge injury blow for an already snake-bitten French side.
And Australia very nearly doubled their lead on 22 minutes. Substitute Theo Hernandez carelessly gave the ball away to Aussie striker Mitchell Duke, who saw his long-range shot sail just wide of Hugo Lloris’ goal.
Five minutes later, France found their equaliser. Hernandez made up for his error by picking out Adrien Rabiot, who made a fine run into the six-yard box and headed the ball past Aussie keeper Mathew Ryan.
The defending champions were then ahead just after the half-hour mark. Amid pressure from Rabiot, Australia right-back Nathaniel Atkinson lost possession near his own penalty area. Rabiot then ran toward goal before setting up Giroud for an easy tap-in.
All four French forwards each had their chance to extend their lead heading into half-time. But Giroud, Dembele, Griezmann, and Mbappe were all unable to get their efforts on target. Mbappe’s miss was the most glaring as he failed to convert from point-blank range at the stroke of half-time.
The Aussies very nearly scored themselves in first-half stoppage time as Jackson Irvine’s header agonisingly hit the post.
Into the second half, and Antoine Griezmann was denied a goal as Australian left-back Aziz Behich made a brilliant goal-line clearance. But the French regrouped and eventually found their third goal through Mbappe.
The PSG man scored a goal Giroud or any old-fashioned centre-forward would be proud of as he got in between two Aussie defenders and leapt high to head in Dembele’s cross.
And speaking of Giroud, he would fire in France’s fourth with a fine header of his own. Mbappe turned provider as he flew past Aussie defenders on the wing and found Giroud, who thumped the ball past Ryan to seal the win.
It was quite a marker laid down by the defending champions, who showed that despite their mounting injuries, they are still a major force to be reckoned with.
Key statistics
With his brace against Australia, Olivier Giroud has now scored 51 goals for France, pulling him level with Thierry Henry as France’s all-time goals leader. Although, Giroud reached 51 in eight fewer games than the great Henry (115 to 123).
However, Kylian Mbappe is hot on Giroud’s heels. With his goal, the 23-year-old has broken into the top 10 of France’s top scorers list with 29 goals in 60 caps.
What’s next?
France will look to follow up their fantastic four-goal performance in their next game against Denmark, who are their stiffest competition in Group D by the SBOTOP World Cup 2022 odds.
The Danes will be desperate to pick up a positive result after they were held to a goalless draw by Tunisia in their opening game.
France and Denmark faced off twice in the UEFA Nations League this year, with the Danes beating the world champions twice.
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