France vs Australia

France begin their World Cup title defence against Australia on Tuesday 22nd November. It’s likely to be their easiest fixture of the group stages and they’ll be looking to get their campaign off to a good start by picking up maximum points.

France and Denmark are the favourites to progress from Group D but Tunisia are an underdog not to be dismissed and they showed that with a positive performance this afternoon. Australia will find the group tough and if they can take anything away from this game, it will give their chances of reaching the knockout stages a huge boost. They’ve only made it past the group stages of the tournament once in their history which was back in 2006 but have generally struggled in the competition having won just 2 of their 16 games played throughout five World Cup tournaments.

This should be an easy win for France who can’t afford to slip up against one of the more weaker teams in the tournament.

France are 3/10 for the win which I think is a reasonable selection if you are having an ACCA. However, as a single, it’s not very appealing.

Instead, I’m opting for France -1 at odds of 5/6.

I think France could quite easily bag a few goals in this game and 3-0 at 7/1 appeals to be more than 2-0 at 5/1.

France haven’t had the best preparation for the World Cup by having a poor Nations League campaign. However, I can’t see them gifting Australia too many chances in front of goal and France to win to nil seems like the logical outcome.

Both Teams To Score – No is priced at 6/10

France have several players capable of scoring but the obvious choice is Mbappe. Don’t expect big odds on him (11/4) but he is the most likely to find the net in this game.

I think France / France is a good bet at 5/6. They  should start strongly and I expect Australia to be on the back foot for the majority of the game.

This is the first game of the tournament for both sides and players won’t want to be risking picking up cards early on. I think Under 3.5 cards is a reasonable bet in this fixture.

France vs Australia Lineup

The lineups for France vs Australia will be published closer to kick-off.

France expected starting lineup:
Lloris; Pavard, Upamecano, Konate, Lucas Hernandez; Tchouameni, Rabiot; Dembele, Griezmann, Mbappe; Giroud

Australia expected starting lineup:
Ryan; Atkinson, Souttar, Rowles, Behich; McGree, Mooy, Irvine; Leckie, Duke, Goodwin

France World Cup Squad

The France 2022 World Cup squad is confirmed as follows:

Goalkeepers: Alphonse Areola (West Ham), Hugo Lloris (Tottenham), Steve Mandanda (Rennes)

Defenders: Lucas Hernardez (Bayern Munich), Theo Hernandez (AC Milan), Presnel Kimpembe (Paris Saint-Germain), Ibrahima Konate (Liverpool), Jules Kounde (Barcelona), Benjamin Pavard (Bayern Munich), William Saliba (Arsenal), Dayot Upamencano (Bayern Munich), Raphael Varane (Manchester United)

Midfielders: Eduardo Camavinga (Real Madrid), Youssouf Fofana (Monaco), Matteo Guendouzi (Marseille), Adrien Rabiot (Juventus), Aurelien Tchouameni (Real Madrid), Jordan Veretout (Marseille)

Forwards: Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), Kinglsey Coman (Bayern Munich), Ousmane Dembele (Barcelona), Olivier Giroud (AC Milan), Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid), Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain), Christopher Nkunku (RB Leipzig)

Australia World Cup Squad

The Australia 2022 World Cup squad is confirmed as follows:

Goalkeepers: Mathew Ryan (FC Copenhagen), Andrew Redmayne (Sydney FC), Danny Vukovic (Central Coast Mariners)

Defenders: Aziz Behich (Dundee United), Milos Degenek (Columbus Crew), Thomas Deng (Aibirex Niigata), Joel King (Odense Boldklub), Nathaniel Atkinson (Hearts), Fran Karacic (Brescia), Harry Souttar (Stoke City), Kye Rowles (Hearts), Craig Goodwin (Adelaide United)

Midfielders: Aaron Mooy (Celtic), Jackson Irvine (St Pauli), Ajdin Hrustic (Hellas Verona), Bailey Wright (Sunderland), Cameron Devlin (Hearts), Riley McGree (Middlesbrough), Keanu Baccus (St Mirren)

Forwards: Awer Mabil (Cadiz), Mathew Leckie (Melbourne City), Martin Boyle (Hibernian), James Maclaren (Melbourne City), Jason Cummings (Central Coast Mariners), Mitchell Duke (Fagiano Okayama), Garang Kuol (Central Coast Mariners)