World Cup holders France recorded an emphatic victory over Australia in the Group D match on Tuesday.
Australia started strongly against France by scoring the quickest goal of tournament so far in the 9th minute where Craig Goodwin connected first ball to a perfect pass from Leckie and shot past French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris from a tight angle.
Australia nearly doubled their lead when Duke’s powerful shot from outside the penalty box went just wide of the left post.
Kylian Mbappe started causing a lot of penetration on the left flank.
Star studded France could not be held back for long as they scored two goals in quick succession within five minutes to take a 2-1 lead by the 32nd minute.
France’s first goal came in the 27th minute via a Adrein Rabiot header off a cross by Hernandes.
The second goal for France came five minutes later as a mistake from Australia led to a steal by Adrien Rabiot who passed the ball to Olivier Giroud for a simple shot on an empty goal.
In the process, Olivier Giroud scored his 50th goal for France.
Make that 5️⃣1️⃣ for Olivier Giroud! https://t.co/AD5oWchWII
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) November 22, 2022
Interestingly, the goal was the first by Olivier Giroud in World Cup as he was goalless in the 2018 edition in Russia even though he played seven matches.
France’s attacking trio of Kylian Mbabbe, Antoine Griezzman and Olivier Giroud missed scoring chances in the first half, while Australia’s Jackson Irvine’s header hit the post as the score remained 2-1.
Kylian Mbappe headed a perfect cross from Dambele to head France’s third goal in the 68th minute.
Mbappe then turned provider as Olivier Giroud headed his cross for France’s fourth goal in the 71st minute.
Oliver Giroud equalled legendary Thiery Henry’s record for most goals for France at 51 goals each.
In the first match of Group D, an evenly matched Denmark and Tunisia played a goalless draw to share the points.
Both teams appeared to have a defensive game plan, packing the midfield and playing a deep backline.
Denmark had more of the possession but wasn’t dominant enough.
🗣🇹🇳 The Tunisia fans are bringing the noise!#TUN | #FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/OCIRn2sHld
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) November 22, 2022
Tunisia produced more shots than Denmark and nearly took the lead shortly before half-time but for a brilliant save by Jasper Schmeichel, Denmark would have been a goal down.
Christian Erikssen was denied by a fine save from Tunisian keeper Dahmen around the 70th minute mark.
With more than 62%, Denmark would regret not winning the match, but chances were few and far in between and, in the end, a draw seemed a fair result.
France’s win over Australia and the Denmark-Tunisia draw means that France seats firmly on top on group D and are the favourites to proceed to the next round.
