Australia 1-4 France: Giroud equals record to begin World Cup defence
Olivier Giroud equalled Thierry Henry’s French goal-scoring record as the World Champions started their title defence campaign with a 4-1 win against Australia.
France started the defence of their title with a convincing win against Australia in Group D.
The first goal from Australia’s Craig Goodwin left the French side looking uneasy.
The momentum of Les Bleus soon changed as they ramped up their attack securing goals from Adrien Rabiot, Kylian Mbappé, and two from Giroud.
Barcelona winger, Ousmane Dembélé, sped down the outside early on for France, however, his cross-kick was subsequently cleared.
The Socceroos had their first chance from a break from Riley McGree, though this was short-lived as his shot ultimately went wide.
Australia’s only goal came nine minutes into the game as Goodwin fired a left-footed shot into the roof of the net. A brilliant first touch from Matthew Leckie set his teammate up to score with an emphatic finish.
Fewer than 10 minutes in and the performance of the World Champions looked somewhat flat, falling 1-0 behind their opponents.
An injury to back Lucas Hernandez further slowed the momentum for Les Bleues.
A powerful long-range shot from 25 yards out for Australia’s Mitchell Duke forced French goalkeeper, Hugo Lloris to fully extend but was inches wide of the goal.
Didier Deschamps’ France soon replied, scoring their first goal of the game in the 27th minute. A left-footed cross from Theo Hernández and a perfectly timed run which culminated in a powerful header from Rabiot put the teams level.
In doing so, Rabiot became the first player since Christophe Dugarry against South Africa (1988) to secure both an assist and a goal on his World Cup debut.
The first goal increased the momentum of Les Bleus, and soon Giroud scored their second. Scoring an open goal on 32 minutes was simple for the experienced French striker and took him up to a total of 50 goals for his country.
The score put him to within one goal of the French goal-scoring record which he would go on to equal later in the game.
After a shaky start to the first half, France led 2-1 at halftime.
France started the second half with far more intent than their first 45 minutes. Giroud soon attempted a second goal, however, his scissor kick attempt veered wide.
A late tackle from Australia’s Mitchell Duke on Dembélé resulted in a yellow card and Duke was swiftly replaced by Jason Cummings.
After consistently knocking on the Australian door Mbappé finally managed to score the in 68th minute. A cross from Dembélé allowed the Paris Saint-Germain forward up to spring into action, scoring a header from a tremendous leap for the ball.
In the moments that followed, Giroud equalled Thierry Henry’s French goal-scoring record (51 goals) for his second of the game with a powerful header taking the score to 4-1 at 71 minutes.
The game ended 4-1 to France, who look ahead to their next game against Denmark. Australia will face group D opponents Tunisia in their second fixture of the tournament.
