DOHA, Qatar — After going down early, reigning World Cup champions France came roaring back at Al-Janoub Stadium on Tuesday to beat Australia 4-1 in Group D.
Australia’s Craig Goodwin scored in just the ninth minute as French defender Lucas Hernández went down on the play. But France responded with four unanswered goals from Adrien Rabiot, Olivier Giroud and Kylian Mbappé to win.
Here is ESPN’s Julien Laurens with reaction and analysis from Qatar.
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Rapid Reaction
1. France stumble at first, but get their winning start
It was not easy for Les Bleus — it never is against Australia (remember 2018 in Russia), and it is never easy in their World Cup openers (remember 2002, 2006, 2010). But a win is a win, and France will take that for now.
Considering the recent drama — the injuries, including the last one ruling out Karim Benzema from the tournament three days ago, the tensions, the uncertainties — plus the nerves of this first game, Tuesday’s win is a start that could be more valuable than just three points for manager Didier Deschamps and his players. Les Bleus showed character, determination and turned things around, which will bring them a lot of momentum.
There are things to improve and to correct, of course — especially defensively — but once the pieces of this new-look team fell into the right place, with Antoine Griezmann taking a while to adjust to his new role of a hybrid No. 8/No. 10, it was much better. The ball movement became more fluid, the shape of the team was more balanced and France took control.
