Australia have won two out of 16 World Cup matches in their history and have qualified for the knockout stages only once in five attempts. On the other side, France is the current world champion and a team to beat. Didier Deschamps men were undefeated during their World Cup Qualification campaign, topping Group D with 18 points from eight games. But, after a sensational Saudi Arabia win over Argentina earlier today, nobody was so sure that this was going to be an easy victory. But the champions pulled it anyway, and came from behind to secure their first three points in the tournament: France – Australia 4-1.Olivier Giroud equals Thierry Henry as France’s all-time top scorer (51) 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/zCgusC6inG— B/R Football (@brfootball) November 22, 2022 The defending champions came to this tournament crippled with injuries, as N’Golo Kante, Paul Pogba, Presnel Kimpembe, Karim Benzema and Christopher Nkunku have all been ruled out in recent weeks. The famous ‘curse’ which says that the past four teams from Europe to win the World Cup have gone out of the following tournament at the group stage, was also upon France. But the 11 men on the field managed to get above all obstacles, and secured a win even thou they were trailing after only nine minutes. And the hero is certainly Olivier Giroud, who scored a brace, thus equalizing Thierry Henry’s France record with 51 goals. Kylian Mbappe was also a force, with a couple of good chances, one goal and one assist. Australia was brave and had good spells, but also missed a few good opportunities and got punished for it.The newly established defensive duo of Upamecano and Konate was a bit shaky at the beginning of the match, so Australia got a bit of an initiative in the opening minutes, which resulted in an early goal. It happened in the 9th minute. Souttar found Leckie, who passed Hernandez and rolled the ball across the France penalty area where Goodwin had a strong finish for an unexpected lead. It was, as it happens, the only shot on target the Kangaroos had all night, but they had a few good opportunities, which ended just close to the bar. McGree’s shot even bounced of the woodwork in the dying stages of the first half. France found their feet soon after the opening goal and Rabiot equalized in the 27th minute, before Giroud east the France fans with a goal for a total turnaround. Mbappe started to get more involved and missed a sitter before finally scoring in the 68 minute and then assisted Giroud to score the final goal of the match, and gets into the record books for France. It looks that former Arsenal man will have no problem scoring another goal in this tournament and become the France’s single record scorer.QATAR 2022 WORLD CUPTuesday, Nov 22ndArgentina – Saudi Arabia 1-2 (1-0)/Messi 10 pen – Al Shehri 48, Al Dawsari 53/Denmark – Tunisia 0-0 Mexico – Poland 0-0 France – Australia 4-1 (2-1)/Rabiot 27, Giroud 32, 71, Mbappe 68 – Goodwin 9/
