Wayne Lumbasi
France had to come from a goal down to beat Australia in their opening World Cup group stage match. Didier Deschamps’ world champions fell behind early on but rallied back with a superb team performance.
On a day that started with Argentina losing to Saudi Arabia, the world champions also had a bit of a scare when Craig Goodwin beat Hugo Lloris high in the ninth minute.
France responded in a strong way with Adrien Rabiot’s header in the 27th minute. Olivier Giroud put the Les Blues ahead five minutes later with a simple tap-in. Kylian Mbappe extended his side’s lead with a header in the 68th minute before providing a cross for Giroud’s second goal of the match three minutes later to make it 4-1 for France.
With his brace, Giroud, 36, joined Arsenal legend Thierry Henry as France’s joint-highest goal-scorer with 51 goals. The win leaves them top of Group D after rivals Denmark and Tunisia drew 0-0 in Doha earlier.
