Defending champions France started the World Cup with a fitting victory. And yet everything started conceivably badly in the 4:1 win against Australia…
A clear victory in the fight against the world championship curse – and that despite an early double shock: defending champions France made a successful start to the World Cup in Qatar and even shone at times after initial problems. However, in the ultimately clear 4:1 (2:1) win over Australia on Tuesday, the already injury-plagued French had to accept the next loss – and that could also be bad news for FC Bayern: For it was Munich left-back Lucas Hernández who was injured after just eight minutes.
France’s predecessors as world champions – Italy, Spain and, most recently, Germany – had all been eliminated in the preliminary round at tournaments following their triumphs. The curse also seemed to threaten the French when Craig Goodwin had put the Australians in the lead in their fifth consecutive World Cup appearance (9th). But Adrien Rabiot (27th) and Olivier Giroud, substitute for injured Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema (32nd), turned the game around before the break. Kylian Mbappé (68th) and Giroud again added to the tally (71st). With his 51st international goal, the double scorer joined Thierry Henry as France’s record goalscorers.
The fans paid homage to Giroud by chanting his name on repeat to the tune of the Beatles classic “Hey Jude”. An opening win against the Australians is a good omen for the French. In their World Cup coup four years ago, they also started with a win against the team from Down Under, but only 2-1 on that occasion.
With N’Golo Kanté, Paul Pogba, Presnel Kimpembe, Leipzig’s Christopher Nkunku and Benzema, five key players were absent before the tournament. The starting eleven was nevertheless prominent. Three quarters of the back line consisted of FC Bayern players: Benjamin Pavard, Dayot Upamecano and Lucas Hernández defended with ex-Leipzig player Ibrahima Konaté, who now plays for Liverpool FC.
But for the French fans among the 40 875 spectators, the game started with a double shock: long-time Bundesliga pro Mathew Leckie loaded Hernández and served Goodwin, the 30-year-old scoring his third international goal. To make matters worse, Hernández had injured himself while lunging and had to leave the field after barely five minutes of treatment. His brother Theo came on in his place.
The French took a while to recover from that opening and were lucky in the 22nd minute that Mitchell Duke’s shot from almost 20 metres was a little too high. And then, unexpectedly at that point, they did equalise when Rabiot headed in Theo Hernández’s cross unopposed. The game was turned around just five minutes later when Rabiot won the ball against a shaky Australians, got it back from Mbappé’s heel and played in Giroud. The 36-year-old had failed to score at the World Cup four years ago, although he had played in every game. But even then he had been an important element with his diligence and service to the team.
The French now actually had the control of the game they had hoped for from the start. The fact that they went into the dressing room with a lead was nevertheless also a stroke of luck, as Australia’s Jackson Irvine of second-division club FC St. Pauli headed against the post in first-half stoppage time. After the break, the French were in control. Giroud, who just missed a side-footed shot (50th), and Antoine Griezmann, whose shot was cleared off the line by Aziz Behich (65th), were unlucky at first. But then Mbappé headed in a cross from ex-Dortmund man Ousmane Dembélé and set up Giroud for another header four minutes later.