At the Euro 2020 last year, France suffered a shock last-16 exit and followed it up with a poor outing in the latest UEFA Nations League.
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France will look to put their disappointing form of late behind them as they bid to defend the World Cup crown by taking on Australia in their opening match. The Group D contest on Tuesday night will be an interesting watch for various reasons. Ideally, France should be the favourites if their squad quality and depth are taken into consideration. However, their form of late and injuries to key players would offer enough encouragement for Australia of pulling out a shocker in their opening group match.
| France vs Australia | Key details |
| Date | November 22 |
| Venue | Al Janoub Stadium |
| Kickoff time in India | 12:30 am (Wednesday) |
| Kickoff time in France | 8 pm (Tuesday) |
| Kickoff time in Australia | 6 am (Wednesday) |
| Kickoff time in Qatar | 10 pm (Tuesday) |
At the Euro 2020 last year, France suffered a shock last-16 exit and followed it up with a poor outing in the latest UEFA Nations League. Placed in League A Group 1, the French nation narrowly avoided finishing at the bottom spot after managing just five points from six games. They managed only one win in the group stage and are heading into the World Cup on the back of losing their last game 2-0 to Denmark. On the other hand, Australia are going into this competition with a decent run on their side. They defeated New Zealand twice in September, however, the task of producing an upset win against France will be an extremely difficult one.
Read More – France vs Australia: Records, Stats, Goals, Head to Head & everything to know
The defending champions are plagued by injuries heading into the World Cup opener. Karim Benzema was the latest big star to pull out of the squad for France. Fresh from winning the Ballon d’Or winner, Benzema’s absence will be a big blow for them. They are also without Christopher Nkunku and Presnel Kimpembe, while the fitness situation of Raphael Varane is not totally clear. Besides, they headed into the tournament without their main midfielders in Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante. Meanwhile, Australia are sweating over the fitness situation of forward Martin Boyle. It remains unlikely that he will play any part on Tuesday.
France possible line-up: Lloris, Pavard, Upamecano, Saliba, Lucas Hernandez, Tchouameni, Fofana, Dembele, Griezmann, Mbappe, Giroud
Australia possible line-up: Ryan, Atkinson, Rowles, Wright, Behich, Hrustic, Mooy, Irvine, Leckie, Goodwin, Duke
France
| Opponents | Score |
| Denmark | 2-0 (L) |
| Austria | 2-0 (W) |
| Croatia | 0-1 (L) |
| Austria | 1-1 |
| Croatia | 1-1 |
Australia
| Opponents | Score |
| New Zealand | 0-2 (W) |
| New Zealand | 1-0 (W) |
| Peru | 1-0 (W) |
| UAE | 1-2 (W) |
| Jordan | 2-1 (W) |
| Last 5 matches (all competitions) | Results |
| France beat Australia | 2-1 |
| France beat Australia | 6-0 |
| Australia draw France | 1-1 |
| Australia beat France | 1-0 |
| Australia lose to France | 0-1 |
The FIFA World Cup match between France and Australia will take place at Al Janoub Stadium on Wednesday at 12:30 am IST.
The FIFA World Cup in Qatar can be seen on Sports18 – 1 SD & HD – in India. Sports 18 will be telecasting the games on the regular and HD Channels. Besides, Viacom18 Sports announced that JioCinema will live-stream all the World Cup games. Moreover, the match between France and Australia can be seen on beIN Sports 2, TF1 Live, Free, Molotov, TF1, beIN SPORTS CONNECT, beIN Sports 1 in France; and SBS On Demand, SBS in Australia.
