Craig Goodwin’s early opener had Aussie fans dreaming of an upset for nearly 20 glorious minutes before the Socceroos reverted to type and invited France back into the game.
So near, yet so far – yet again. The Socceroos and valiant, backs-to-the-wall defeats in World Cups seem to go hand in hand.
Had Mitch Duke’s swerving long-range drive flown into the top corner instead of just wide of Hugo Lloris’s goal in the first half, maybe this would have been a different story.
But as is often the case with the Socceroos, after stunning the defending champions with a superb early opener, they retreated defensively and invited wave after wave of attacks from Les Bleus.
Sadly for Graham Arnold’s men, that was always going to spell trouble. Didier Deschamps’s team simply have too much quality not to make the most of it.
So when Mat Ryan played the already struggling Nathaniel Atkinson into trouble – Atkinson’s first touch was terrible, but Ryan did his defence no favours with his initial pass to an under-pressure Jackson Irvine – it was no surprise to see France’s pantomime villain Adrien Rabiot make the most of it.
Rabiot is one of those footballers who always excel at this level. Immensely unlikeable, his unwavering self-belief simply allows him to get the better of his opponents.
He predictably scored France’s equaliser with a textbook first-half header before pressuring Atkinson into a mistake to set up Olivier Giroud for a tap-in barely five minutes later.
And for the second World Cup in a row, the position of right back caused the biggest headache for the Socceroos.
Let’s be honest, facing the might of Kylian Mbappe is a tough ask for even the best defenders in the world. But it becomes an impossible task when you can’t hold on to possession in your own defensive third.
Hearts defender Atkinson endured a torrid time as the Paris Saint-Germain star ran at him at will, and Mbappe’s second-half goal – from an uncharacteristic header – killed the game off as a contest.
It will be interesting to see if Atkinson starts over Fran Karacic against Tunisia on Saturday.
But you can’t blame Australia’s 4-1 defeat on one player alone, and while Atkinson hardly had the best of nights, he wasn’t alone.
Ryan deserves the lion’s share of the blame for France’s second goal. There’s a time and a place to play out from the back, and five minutes after conceding to a French side launching wave after wave of attacks at your defenders isn’t it.
Both Atkinson and the otherwise willing Aziz Behich lacked the pace to adequately deal with Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele respectively, while the Socceroos lost much of their attacking shape when Duke was taken off 11 minutes into the second half.
Still, there were some positives. The Socceroos looked fearless inside the opening 20 minutes and deservedly took the lead when Mat Leckie crossed for Goodwin to blast home at the far post.
It was a goal made in the A-League Men – a fact Australia’s domestic league should be shouting from the rooftops for the rest of the season.
Craig Goodwin ) celebrates with teammates after he scored the opening goal. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE / AFP) (Photo by FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images)
Leckie has been much maligned of late, but the reality is he’s one of the few Socceroos who can match it physically with an imposing side like France.
And Goodwin’s calm and composed finish – he did well to keep Leckie’s deflected cross down – was the mark of a man who has been dominating Australia’s domestic league for a couple of seasons now.
Goodwin’s goal gave us all hope to dream – before reality came crashing back down on an outmatched Socceroos side.
But it’s time to reset the narrative. When the Socceroos run out against Tunisia at the same venue on Saturday night, they will do so against one of the most fanatically backed teams in the tournament.
We can’t just sit back and hope for the best.
It’s time to show the same intensity for 90 minutes – plus FIFA’s interminable stoppage time – as we did in the opening stanza against France.
Grem
Roar Rookie
Mate, we missed you last night. You’re always on our football articles writing insightful comments. You must have had tears in your eyes last night when we won. Were you overcome with emotion and unable to write? The worst team in the World Cup - you are always full of such praise for the team and last night must have been a big disappointment for you.
rodney mcminge
Guest
F.W. No grit ? I don't think you saw them play in '95 under Taylor ? Waugh hit 9 times by Ambrose and Walsh to achieve a double ton. Waugh had shitloads of grit. His approach was to knock an opponent over and then put the foot on their throats. In saying that , we did have some pretty good coaches. Then along comes Buchanan with his laptop with stats and the new sports science approach. All very techy, but effective too. By the time Waugh took the captaincy most of the west indian big guns had hit retirement. Yep we had some great " Batsmen " , but every member of that squad was full of grit.
rodney mcminge
Guest
It's all good and well to blame Mooy , but , when players don't manipulate the space to receive a return pass , there's bugger-all he can do. So many times i saw players, pass to Mooy and then stand still. I mean for godsake that's pretty basic stuff.
rodney mcminge
Guest
I'm a big believer in attack being the best defence....but....you can't lose possesion of the ball. Unfortunately , our lads don't have chewing gum on their boots. We so often decide to play in tight areas but lack the finesse to be constructive in those scenarios , regularly coughing up possesion. It's like the minute we are in the opposition box , they instantly turn into chickens , scratching around for a feed. Trying to accomplish too many passes. Man , after the french game, i just had to go watch some Georgie Best.
rodney mcminge
Guest
Why the afro thing ? I was actually pondering this question today, in regard to the a league. When you think of the refugees who have escaped squalid conditions and whatever other issues you care to throw in, my thoughts went to being in a stable country with a much healthier lifestyle. I watched a short docco on these refugee kids when they first got here. Malnourished beanpoles. Some of these kids are now playing in or working their way into the a league. You look at them now and they're healthy and strong. It seems that if you give them the right nourishment and confidence they'll run through walls for you.
Football_Wunderkind
Roar Pro
Yeah I hate Aussie spirit and grit and all that shit. It's propaganda. The mighty Australian cricket team led by Steve Waugh didn't win records because of Aussie grit. We had the best skilled batters like Adam Gilchrist and a genius bowler in Shane Warne. We need a technical revolution for Football in this country.
Football_Wunderkind
Roar Pro
The $100 million dollar question. I like you because you get it.
james
Guest
1st point - why does French players' African heritage get so many mentions in these comments? If that was at all relevant i'd be backing, hmm maybe an African nation to win? 2nd point - our lack of of fitness was the major disappointment for me. Since when are Aussie teams under conditioned? We can't do much about not having the skills of the French, but we can do something about our fitness levels. If you can't run hard for 90 mins in our midfield/defense, find someone who can.
Sunshine Tiger
Roar Rookie
Well well so now it’s time for change , my god Mike where is your unwavering support for Arnie ? And I see Stuart Thomas is missing in action
Steven Harris
Thanks for mentioning stoppage time.. where they came up with 7+ for the second half needs explanation.
Cameron Handley
Roar Rookie
we scored from a long diagonal and the French left back turning and tearing his ACL we created 0.4xG. had we scored 3 off 0.41, that would be considered outrageous luck. we got torn apart because we weren't defensively organised and the team selection + tactics was poor. everybody seems to think we got done because we stopped 'attacking' and started defending. the truth is we were never organised defensively, and no amount of Mooy diagonals and Duke long range efforts was going to change the result when we were as open as we were.
Stuckbetweenindopak
Roar Rookie
With the sporting talent we generally found in your country qualifying for final 32 is the minimum expectation especially when you are required to compete among asian teams (not natural atheletes) in the qualifiers. People expect you to be at par with Europe and South America in football given the athletic talent found in the country.
joeb
Roar Rookie
An unwillingness I meant, :thumbup:
Free flowing FC
Roar Rookie
If that had been the team then how would we have scored the goal we scored and come super close to scoring two more? The real issue was we stopped attacking down the flanks for some reason and Ryan’s brain fade. Having said that. Your suggestion is probably a good one if we are level with 20-25 to go but sometimes Attack is the best form of defence.
joeb
Roar Rookie
Okay I agree. Cheers. Gunna watch the Morrocco Croatia one tonight, starts at 9pm
Free flowing FC
Roar Rookie
Total brain fade from Ryan. IMO he is rather overrated and would prefer a Keeper more capable at shot stopping rather than distributing the ball. He also needs another Keeper to push and challenge him. Redmayne and Vukovic aren’t those Keepers…Langerak missing is a glaring omission and the Adelaide UtD Keeper has a claim to be there as well. It’s the little things that can turn matches on their head in seconds. Let’s hope we can reproduce the first 25mins in the next two matches
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Leckie, Duke, Irvine were the three best players . Behich good in attack weak in defence. Arnie wants to use the Socceroos and Olympics to set up a lucrative club career, If he succeeds its goodbye, if he fails then they he will put his hand up for more as he cant get a gig elsewhere.
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
If I was Rafa, I would have won more tennis titles than I've won to date.
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
At a guess, of those 3 goals from crosses, Griezmann was involved in the passing chain for all three. That's still a pretty good days work. Anyway, all these boards are full of complaints about the socceroos passing backwards more than forwards, i.e. the antithesis of Griezmann. I'd have him in my team, that's for sure.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Griezmann didnt set up a goal directly though, one goal came off Atkinson and three goals came off crosses.