Reigning world champions France opened their 2022 FIFA World Cup campaign with a 4-1 thrashing of Australia on Tuesday night.
2022 FIFA World Cup
Report: France 4-1 Australia
Date: 22 November 2022
Venue: Al Janoub Stadium
Didier Deschamps went for Ibrahim Konate and Dayot Upamecano in the central defence for the World Champions, while Olivier Giroud joined joined Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann in the attack.
The Socceroos got off to the perfect start after opening the scoring in the ninth minute, with Chris Goodwin turned home Matthew Leckie's cross at the far post.
The lead was nearly doubled in the 21st minute when Theo Hernandez, who replaced his brother Lucas, gifted the ball to Mitchell Duke, who took one touch before rifling one just over the crossbar.
The French did manage to get back on level terms when Hernandez' superb cross found Adrien Rabiot, who guided his header into the far corner for his first goal in the tournament.
The turnaround was complete in the 31st minute when France pounced on Australia's failure to play out from the back, with Giroud turning home Rabiot's cross for his 50th goal for the national side.
The Socceroos were nearly back on level terms just before the interval, with Jackson Irvine rattling the upright with a free header at the far post.
The world champions continued to dominate in the second half and could have been further ahead, with Giroud squandering a big chance from eight years before Mbappe saw his close-range strike deflected out on the hour mark.
Mbappe got his reward seven minutes later with a close-range finish to open his account after some good work from Ousmane Dembele down the right flank.
The Paris Saint-Germain forward then turned provider a minute later when raced to the byline and lifted a cross into the box, where Giroud was on hand to head home to become the joint-leading scorer for France with 51 goals.
With France comfortably leading, Deschamps opted for a couple changes in the closing stages as Dembele and Aurelien Tchouameni made way for Youssouf Fofana and Kingsley Coman.
The French did have a couple more sights at goal in the latter stages, with substitute Marcus Thuram going close with a header, but 4-1 was how the encounter ended as the defending champions start on a high.
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