Match Review: France v. Australia

France v Australia
Score: 2-1
Goals: Griezmann 58' (p), Jedinak 62' (p), Pogba 81'
Possession: 51-49
Shots: 13-4
Man of the match: Aaron Mooy

France open their World Cup campaign with a scrappy and somewhat undeserving win against Australia. The match opened up with France taking it too the Aussies. The French had a couple dangerous free kicks from Paul Pogba and Antoine Griezmann but none of them really tested Socceroo keeper Matt Ryan. Despite the good start from the French Australia weathered the French storm and slowly grew into the match. Huddersfield Town midfielder Aaron Mooy was absolutely brilliant throughout the entire match. He also probably forced the best save of the half. He swung in a free kick from about 30 yards that missed every player and forced a frantic Hugo Lloris into an impressive diving save. The first half continued with much of the same. France having some dangerous attacks, but Australia looking like they belonged. The first half ended 0-0 with France needing this win in order to still be considered favorites to finish top of the group. The second half started off and immediately there as a controversial decision by referee Andres Cunha and the VAR team. Antoine Griezmann was played in and was clear through. Just as he was about to have a strike towards goal Aussie defender Joshua Risdon made a last ditch sliding tackle. The tackle made  minimal contact on Griezmann but the Basque striker still tumbled to the ground. Originally referee Andres Cunha decided against the pen but as he went to review with his VAR team they decided to reverse the call. This is the first important decision in the World Cup that has been reversed due to VAR and will definitely not be the last. Though there is contact it's extremely debatable if that's enough for a pen. Griezmann slotted it home into the right hand corner leaving the keeper standing still. Though the Aussies were demoralized by going down 1-0 they fought back brilliantly and won a pen of their own just four minutes later. This decision was pretty easy for the referee as the ball hits Samuel Umtiti's arm in a very unnatural position. Captain Mile Jedinak stepped up and beautifully rolled it to the right hand side sending the keeper the wrong way. The match continued and hit a dry spell. This continued until Paul Pogba got into a very favorable position and somehow dinked the keeper from just inside the box hitting off the bar and bouncing in. There were appeals from the Aussie players but unfortunately the ball did fully cross the line. The Aussies tried to fight back as they did earlier in the half but it was not enough. Though the Aussies did lose they put in an impressive performance and if they put in that sort of performance against the other sides in this group the outcome will be different. As for France they will be happy with the three points but they will need to improve their performance in order to show they are true contenders for the trophy.