France’s stars shine in a resounding 4-1 win over Australia. .France came back from an early scare to put four past the Socceroos, with Giroud grabbing two.
French striker Olivier Giroud scored twice to become his country’s joint record goalscorer as France opened their World Cup defence with a 4-1 Group D win over Australia.
Australia’s Socceroos had shocked the world champions by scoring a ninth-minute goal, with Craig Goodwin side-footing the ball into the top corner.
The underdogs would no doubt have drawn inspiration from this morning’s shock defeat of Argentina by Saudi Arabia.
With French fullback Lucas Hernandez limping off after being injured while attempting to block the cross that led to the first goal, France could not have asked for a worse start.
But Hernandez’s brother, Theo, took his place in France’s defensive line and less than 20 minutes later was instrumental in setting up Adrien Rabiot’s first goal for Les Blues – snuffing out Australia’s early confidence which saw Mitch Duke hit a shot just wide of the uprights.
Five minutes later, with a little more than half an hour on the clock, Giroud, who at 36 became France’s oldest player in World Cup history, found himself with a near-empty goal as a result of an excellent French press.
France took the lead and never looked back.