France
4
Match Complete
Australia
1
| 94' |  | A. Mooy | ||
| 80' | | J. Irvine | ||
| O. Giroud |  | 71' | ||
| K. Mbapp?(C) | | 68' | ||
| 55' | | M. Duke | ||
| O. Giroud | | 32' | ||
| A. Rabiot | | 27' | ||
| 9' | | C. Goodwin |
| 23 | Shots | 4 | ||
| 6 | On Target | 1 | ||
| 5 | Fouls | 11 | ||
| 8 | Corners | 1 | ||
| 0 | Offsides | 0 | ||
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 | ||
| 0 | Yellow Cards | 3 |
The Socceroos begin their 2022 World Cup tilt against France in Al-Wakrah. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 6am (AEDT).
In a clash that reminds all Australian football fans of the Socceroos’ opening match of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, a well-prepared and determined team will do battle with the reigning World Cup champions, in the hope of pinching points against one of the favoured teams in Qatar.
Despite the immense quality on the French team, injuries have disrupted their preparations, with Paul Pogba, N’Golo Kante and Karim Benzema all out of the tournament and a real weakness created in midfield, where some younger talent will be required to step in and fill the void.
Elsewhere, France look strong, with Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann certain to be more than a handful for the Socceroo defenders, who had best be on form should they hope to be able to hold back the French onslaught.
Traditionally a team that starts a little slowly in major tournaments, France will be there for the Australians to capitalise on, should coach Graham Arnold send them out in the right mindset and with the right tactics to capitalise on any opposition weaknesses.
The lead-up to the tournament has been smooth for the Socceroos and Arnold will be hopeful that his trusted defence and midfield depth in the form of Aaron Mooy, Riley McGree, Ajdin Hrustic, Jackson Irvine and Cameron Devlin are up to the task of challenging one of the best teams in the world through the centre of the pitch.
Should that occur, Jamie Maclaren, Awer Mabil, Mathew Leckie and Mitchell Duke will be the men Arnold hopes could profit from the hard work, with the genius that is Garang Kuol almost certain to be the ace up his sleeve and used late, in an attempt to either claw back a deficit or challenge for the win.
Prediction
France has the quality across the pitch and the reputation to put the Aussies to the sword, yet football is a far more complex game than looking at the odds and expecting the favourites to conquer in all circumstances.
With a high press, familiarity of conditions and the French a little unsettled after their less than smooth lead-in to the tournament, the Socceroos will be hopeful of pulling off a stunning upset to open their campaign, with anything bar a loss setting them up well for the following matches against Tunisia and Denmark.
France 2 Australia 2
Game information
Venue: Al Janoub Stadium, Al-Wakrah, Qatar
Kick-off: Wednesday 23rd November 2022, 6am (AEDT)
TV: SBS
Streaming: SBS On Demand
Betting: France $1.25 Draw $5.75 Australia $12 – odds via PlayUp
Squads
France
Goalkeepers: Alphonse Areola, Hugo Lloris, Steve Mandanda.
Defenders: Axel Disasi, Lucas Hernandez, Theo Hernandez, Ibrahima Konate, Jules Kounde, Benjamin Pavard, William Saliba, Dayot Upamecano, Raphael Varane.
Midfielders: Eduardo Camavinga, Youssouf Fofana, Matteo Guendouzi, Adrien Rabiot, Aurelien Tchouameni, Jordan Veretout.
Forwards: Kingsley Coman, Ousmane Dembele, Olivier Giroud, Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe, Marcus Thuram, Randal Kolo Muani.
Australia
Goalkeepers: Mat Ryan, Andrew Redmayne, Danny Vukovic
Defenders: Milos Degenek, Aziz Behich, Joel King, Nathaniel Atkinson, Fran Karacic, Harry Souttar, Kye Rowles, Bailey Wright, Thomas Deng
Midfielders: Aaron Mooy, Jackson Irvine, Ajdin Hrustic, Keanu Baccus, Cameron Devlin, Riley McGree
Forwards: Awer Mabil, Mathew Leckie, Jamie Maclaren, Jason Cummings, Mitchell Duke, Garang Kuol, Craig Goodwin, Marco Tilio
Punter
Roar Rookie
Mooy can hold onto to ball, which allows others to rest against relentless attacks & Mooy needs runners to feed the ball to, there were no runners.
Grem
Roar Rookie
More games, facilities, coaching for our Olyroos, Joeys would be a good use of funds.
Grem
Roar Rookie
And I’d personally probably prefer better hospitals, schools, roads, etc.
Football is Life
Roar Rookie
absolutely, sadly conducted yourself in that manner is not part of the Gaffer's old fashioned thinking. I have a fiver says that Maclaren, a proven goal scorer, doesnt get a minute on the pitch during this tournament
matth
Roar Guru
Yep a million fouls to slow it down after getting in front, 6 yellows.
matth
Roar Guru
Interesting take. Would Australian taxpayers prefer a gold medal or getting to the knock out stage of a World Cup? I guess it's also not an apples for apples comparison because many of the Olympic sports are still semi-amateur so their only source is govt funding. And I guess $40M for an individual gold medal might equal a lot more to develop an entire squad in the most competitive sport on earth. Having said that, channeling the $40M into the Olyroos (if they don;t already) probably has the best effect on our senior football.
matth
Roar Guru
And speed. Speed is the one thing you just cannot coach or coach against
matth
Roar Guru
Yep, Arnold caught caught on the hop there, missed his window for replacements to have an effect by about 10 minutes.
matth
Roar Guru
I'd rather get flogged being brave than get comfortably handled being timid.
matth
Roar Guru
Plus the French woke up and turned it up a notch and we simply couldn't go with them. Scrambled to get behind the ball because they have us beaten all over the park for speed.
matth
Roar Guru
He could probably sell it for a decent chunk of his yearly salary
Punter
Roar Rookie
Ignore him. We were beaten by a team that would've beaten all but maybe the top 5-8 countries in the world today. But we are not the worse.
Redondo
Roar Rookie
The Argies were so slow they made it easy for the Saudis. Us vs Argies would have been better for us.
The Ball Bobbled
Roar Rookie
He was just giving Kuol game time thats all - he could see the result
chris
Guest
Grem that's a good point you make about how much it costs us to win a gold medal. And no one blinks an eye.
Grem
Roar Rookie
If every team takes every chance score lines would look different , but that doesn’t happen. If our J League2 striker had put the ball 5 cm to the left we would have had two and if Irvine’s header had gone 5cm to the right we would have had three. And if…
Grem
Roar Rookie
Qatar for a start. Go look up the rankings. We are more than competitive against any team ranked from 20 down. There’s a few to choose from.
josh
Guest
It literally will.
Grem
Roar Rookie
I can understand that.
Grem
Roar Rookie
Arnold has no idea!