France begins their World Cup title defense in Qatar with the first group stage game against Australia at Al Janoub Stadium.
Les Blues lifted the trophy for the second time in their history four years back while the Socceroos exited the group stages for the third consecutive edition of the tournament.
FRA vs AUS Match Details
Date: Tuesday, 22 November 2022/ Wednesday, 23 November 2022
Time: 22:00 (AST) / 00:30 (IST)
Venue: Al Janoub Stadium, Al Wakrah
FRA vs AUS Match Preview
Goalkeeper and captain Hugo Lloris stood on the podium at Luzhniki stadium in 2018 to lift the coveted World Cup trophy defeating Croatia in the final 4-2. In a country that went to war with its neighbours and does not give freedom to same-sex personnel. The latter resonates well with the current host Qatar but Lloris was vague by saying to respect the culture of the country without wearing the armband that campaigned for the rights of those people. Fair to him, FIFA banned other national team captains from wearing it anyway through the fear of a yellow card. He will be wishing that the opponents who actually are vocal about the issues do not halt them from a victory in the opener. France managed to win the showpiece from there although it is a major question mark whether they can be the third nation in history to defend the silverware. Injuries and ego clashes have not helped the team build the right kind of momentum for this tournament. The Nations League was a forgetful competition in which they won only one game and lost the defense of the trophy. Les Blues also looked shaky in the qualification resulting from their capitulation in Euro 2020. Didier Descamps’s men also have additional pressure to break the group stage curse of defending champions which they unintentionally started from the 2002 edition. Losing key characters in the team could be a time of crisis for this once incredible side but the never-stopping pump of talents is their escape route. France won the opener against Australia in the last edition too and a similar result could set them well against a well-drilled Denmark team in the second group stage game.
Australia became the first team to have a full squad condemning the nature of abuses occurring in the host nation and asked for the reforms to be implemented fully on the ground level. The impact was so much that Qatar had to jump at the earnest to make their defense in saying no country is perfect. The kind of courage shown by the Socceroos needs to be implemented on the pitch as well. The golden generation has passed and the team is not able to replace them yet. Nor, there are figures to take them out of difficult situations in delivering excellence on the pitch. The qualifiers were also hard fought with Andrew Radmayne’s heroics in the inter-confederation playoff final penalty shootout against Peru putting them in their fifth World Cup. Australia can term themselves as lucky contestants finishing third in their qualifiers having lost against round’s top two, Saudi Arabia and Japan but gathering enough spirit to take them through. Graham Arnold’s men are in fine form staying unbeaten in their last five games including four wins. That should help them take on France in the opener in a tough group also containing Denmark and Tunisia. However, the record for the Socceroos against top sides is pretty grim having defeated the Les Blues only once in their history back in 2001 Confederation Cup. It will be hard for this side to demonstrate their 2010 and 2014 performances again and move to the knockouts.
Recent Form
FRA: LWLDD
AUS: WWDWW
FRA vs AUS Team News
France are laden with injury problems for this tournament. First, they lost their chief contributors of the 2018 World Cup success in Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante. Now, Karim Benzema withdrew from the squad unable to shake off his thigh issue troubling since he left Real Madrid to join the camp. No replacement for him was called up by Didier Deschamps. Earlier, Presnel Kimpembe and Christopher Nkunku were swapped for Axel Disasi and Randal Kolo Muani after picking up injuries. Man United defender Raphael Varane is in contention to feature in the opener. He was able to recover from his injury in time. The front trio of Griezmann-Giroud-Mbappe is intact which brought them glory four years back and will start here. Deschamps switched between back three and back four in the Nations League but the former got priority since the Euros last year. It is expected to stay the same in this tournament as well.
Check here France 2022 World Cup Squad and Team Profile and FIFA World Cup 2022: France - World Cup Records and Stats
For Australia, coach Graham Arnold announced that Ajdin Hrustic is fit and will start from the bench. Harry Souttar has also looked sharp in training and is pushing for a start in the game. Against the defending champions, the Socceroos will look to tighten up at the back so a 4-4-2 system is preferred. But with Hrustic only starting from the bench for the opening game, there is a real dilemma. Number one Mathew Ryan has lost his first-choice status at his club FC Copenhagen with his lack of game minutes putting him in competition with Andrew Redmayne. However, the former Brighton goalkeeper is set to keep his place.
Check here Australia’s Squad for FIFA World Cup 2022 & Team Profile and FIFA World Cup 2022: Australia - World Cup Records and Stats
FRA vs AUS Predicted Lineups
FRA: Hugo Lloris; Jules Kounde, Raphael Varane, Lucas Hernandez; Benjamin Pavard, Aurelian Tchouameni, Adrian Rabiot, Theo Hernandez; Antoine Griezmann; Olivier Giroud, Kylian Mbappe
AUS: Mat Ryan; Nathan Atkinson, Bailey Wright, Kye Rowles, Aziz Behich; Ajdin Hrustic, Aaron Mooy, Jackson Irvine; Mathew Leckie, Mitchell Duke, Craig Goodwin
FRA vs AUS Dream11 Team Prediction
GK: Lloris (8)
DEF: Atkinson (7.5), Pavard (8), Varane (8.5), T Hernandez (8)
MID: Griezmann (8.5), Mooy (9), Hrustic (8.5)
FW: Duke (8.5), Giroud (8.5), Mbappe (9)
Vice-captain: Olivier Giroud
Captain: Kylian Mbappe
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