“There are no strong choices, but only choices, based on what I think is the best for France”, Deschamps added. They have Tim Cahill in midfield and that’s about it.
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“Coming out to the field and you see these big names – big salaries, huge presence – you can get intimidated and change the way you play”, attacker Robbie Kruse said.
France heads into its World Cup opener against Australia in Kazan Saturday sweating on the fitness of fullback Djibril Sidibe and under pressure to deliver an emphatic win to erase doubts about the cohesion of a team of brilliant individuals. This list is awesome! Though only 25 and 24 respectively, the duo are important players in the national team as well as their clubs – Real Madrid and Barcelona, their experience and talent beguiles their age.
France had controlled possession and circulated the ball well before the interval, but after four shots in the first eight minutes the French failed to get a single shot on target in the remainder of the first half.
Australia and their 10,000 gold-shirted fans will be disappointed that all their hard work counted for nothing as they seek to get out of the group stage for the second time in their fifth World Cup. The Eastern European nation is now ranked 20 in the latest FIFA World Rankings while Nigeria is down at 48.
France’s first game is against Australia, and France is an easy favorite in that match up.
There was no clamour back home for France to patch up its (considerable) differences with Karim Benzema, who was guided to another Champions League title last month by a French-born manager, but is still so far out of the picture under Didier Deschamps that he’s not considered.
After all, this is a sport in which they can not even sandpaper the ball to achieve a result. They try to play on the ground. So tough to predict yawa!
But Hertha Berlin winger Leckie is backing van Marwijk’s call to arms. Seven minutes from time, after a one-two with Kylian Mbappe and Olivier Giroud, Paul Pogba saw his flick, defected by Aziz Behich, hit the bar and bounce back down.
Messi´s eternal rival, Cristiano Ronaldo, made history on Friday when he became only the fourth player to score at four World Cups on his way to a hat-trick against Spain to earn a dramatic 3-3 draw. Since then, Les Bleus have cultivated one of best squads in the world.
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“Martial, Lacazette and Kingsley Coman – that’s a lot of players, I agree”. The key for Australia is to have enough in defence to stop the French running riot, while also retaining enough offensive capability to give themselves at least some chance of scoring. Neymar is looking good despite the injury scare some few weeks ago, Diego Costa can’t wait to disrupt everyone’s lives, Willian, Fred, Paulinho, Coutinho, oh my! They come to make up the numbers. He is on a short-term contract to replace of Ange Postecoglou, who quit after guiding the Australians through Asian qualifying.
