November 22, (THEWILL) – In a 4-1 victory over Australia on Tuesday, Olivier Giroud tied Thierry Henry’s goal-scoring record for France and helped Les Bleus to rally from behind to open their World Cup defence with victory.
Injuries to Paul Pogba, Karim Benzema, and others meant that the defending champions had a tumultuous build-up to Qatar 2022. Yet, France was dealt another setback when Craig Goodwin gave Australia an early lead.
However, the hosts responded strongly, and during a change in fortunes in the first half, the excellent Adrien Rabiot recorded a goal and an assist for French major attacking threat, AC Milan’s Giroud.
Then, Kylian Mbappe secured the victory with a brilliant glancing header before setting Olivier Giroud to score his historic 51st goal and give France control of Group D.
The result means France is off to a strong start at the Qatar event as they attempt to defend their title as world champions. However, there is still a long way to go with Denmark waiting for them on Saturday. On the same day, Australia will play Tunisia.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
