France take on Australia after Benzema loss

The defending Champions France will start their World Cup campaign in a face-off against Australia tonight at the Al Janoub Stadium in Wakrah.

France will need luck in their favour to get through against the Socceroos, who are keen on giving them a tough fight. No defending champions since Brazil in 2006 have been able to win their opening match in the following World Cup and ended up getting knocked out from the group stages.

Italy in 2010, Spain in 2014, and Germany in 2018- all ended their journey in the group stages. France will look to break the champions’ curse this time.

France took a major blow as their main man in the attack, Karim Benzema was forced out of the World Cup just a day before the tournament kicked off. The 2022 Ballon d’Or winner would have been Didier Deschamps’ trump card for his cool finishes as well as moving down to help in the build-up.

Injuries and off-the-field activities of the players took a toll on Deschamps’s side as their midfield duo of Paul Pogba and N’golo Kante missed the World Cup due to injuries, with forward Christopher Nkunku also forced out of the squad due to an ankle injury after being called up for their Qatar mission.

Even though France will be missing quite a few starting players, their team still remains one of the contenders for the title. They will trust Kylian Mpabbe and Antoine Griezmann to get the scoring part done.

Australia, on the other hand, also has the potential to fight for the knockout stages of the tournament. Young Garang Kuol, who will be joining Newcastle United this January, will be a threat to the French defence. And then there is Aaron Mooy, who is known for breaking the lines and France need to keep an eye on him.

Having won the 2021 Nations League, France’s performance has been on the decline since then. They come to the World Cup with only one win in their last five matches. The Socceroos on the other hand, are in better form than Les Bleus. They have won four out of their last five matches. But they are yet to score an open-play goal in the World Cup finals since Tim Cahill’s stunner against Netherlands in 2014.

France and Australia are familiar opponents in the World Cups, they were drawn in the same group in 2018 as well which ended in a 2-1 win for Les Bleus thanks to Griezmann’s goal from the spot. The two sides have faced each other five times, where Australia could manage their only win back in 2001.