Kicking off Day 4 of the FIFA World Cup 2022 was one of the most anticipated matches of the season as the team from Australia was set to take on the defending champions France in the eighth match of the tournament. France, whose last World Cup match was in 2018 where they defeated a valiant Croatia 4-2 in the final, had high expectations on their shoulders as it always is with defending champions playing their first match of the preceding edition.
The face-off took place at the Al Janoub stadium, where Australia took the early lead as Craig Goodwin scored the first goal of the match for Australia in the 9th minute. The first half did begin with France taking early charge and making a few failed attempts at scoring, but Australia was quickly able to cope and attack the French goal. Their first opportunity came when McGree attempted to score in the 3rd minute but missed. A few minutes later, they got their first goal from the boots of Goodwin.
The French boys kept their cool and started building pressure on the Autralians with well crafted passes, keeping as much ball possession as possible. The golden chance came their way when Adrien Rabiot scored for France equalized the score card in the 27th minute, followed by a quick followup goal in the 32nd minute by Oliver Giroud to give them the lead. France stayed on the beat and continued with the dominant play throughout the remainder of the first half. The 45th minute saw some high-octane action when Griezmann dashed from the right and danked a shot in for Mbappe to score, who just barely sent it over the crossbar. 8 minutes were added to the first half, but it didn’t yield any result. The first half ended with France leading Australia 2-1.
As both teams switched sides in the second half, action came knocking in the 49th minute when Theo then executed an excellent cross to Giroud who went for a picturesque bicycle kick, but went off target. After being slapped a yellow card, Australia’s Duke is substituted by Cummins. Theo kept firing into the Australian D, as he sent another excellent pass to Giroud, but nothing came out of it. The Australian defenders were clearly under pressure.
68 minutes into the match, veteran and crown favorite Kylian Mbappe scored and pushed the score to 3-1 for France, which was followed by another goal by Giroud in the 71st-minute. Giroud’s second goal of the match and France lead Australia comfortably at 4-1. Several substitutions followed during the remainder of the second half, which saw Australia struggling to keep up with the pace of the quick-firing Frenchmen. After 8 minutes past 90, the referee blows the whistle, signaling the end. A convincing 4-1 victory for the defending champs!
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