In the eighth minute, Leckie ran down the left while Lucas Hernandez fell, injuring his knee. The Australian winger went to serve for Goodwin who opened the scoring on his first real chance of the match (0-1). Lucas Hernandez was to be replaced by his brother Theo.
In the 22nd minute, Duque took advantage of a poor pass from Hernandez to take his chance with a heavy shot from 25 yards that was just wide of Lloris’ goal. We didn’t know it yet but Australia had missed their chance to propel the Blues, who were about to respond…
Five minutes later, Theo Hernandez saved the siblings’ honor by turning in a superb cross for Rabiot’s header. The mean of Juventus managed to recover, betraying a helpless Ryan (1-1, 27th).
It took just five more minutes to make it 2–1 to France on a big break from Ryan and the Australian defence, who wanted to play the ball in their own half. But Mbappé was passing through to recover the leather and serve to Rabiot, who found Giroud facing an empty goal.
Giroud’s record, Rabiot spark: What to remember from France-Australia
In the 42nd round, Mbappe served to Griezmann at the entrance of the rectangle, but the Atletico player’s shot narrowly missed. Two minutes later, the roles were reversed but Embappé was unable to frame his send-off from the short rectangle onto Griezmann’s caviar.
Just before returning to the locker room, the Australians earned themselves a great chance from Irvine’s header which hit Lloris’ post.
On the restart, Giroud tried to nod a fine cross from Hernandez, but the ball went a meter wide of Ryan’s goal. After that it was Mbappe’s turn to find chances to score, without drawing conclusions.
In the 67th minute, Griezmann saw his shot saved on the line, but Mbappe opened his counter in the continuation of the action to make it 3–1 with a header from a fine cross by Dembele.
In the 71st minute, Mbappé fell down the left flank and headed for Giroud, who accelerated to equal Thierry Henry’s record of 51 goals (4–1).
France could then calmly manage the end of the match, even getting several chances to make it 5–1, such as a powerful header from Konate released by Ryan.
Relive France-Australia:
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