World cup warm up: Favourites France will look to exert dominance over Australia

France face Australia on Saturday to kick off the only four-match day at the World Cup. Les Bleus, who are one of the favourites to lift the trophy next month, will be confident of dispatching of the Socceroos with consummate ease, even accounting for their indifferent form in the build up to Russia 2018. 

Didier Deschamps is a manager who is still struggling to stumble upon his best system and the off-pitch shenanigans surrounding Antoine Griezmann’s future will only negatively affect France. While we’re unlikely to see a repeat of the 2010 revolt against the head coach, with Raymond Domenech struggling to control his players in South Africa eight years ago, Deschamps needs to get the squad to focus on the task at hand. 

The Euro 2016 finalists, then, need to make a positive start against Australia, which could be something of a dream draw for France. Victories over Czech Republic and Hungary may have boosted morale, but Bert van Marwijk’s side remain something of an unknown quantity. This match will be the first the Dutchman takes charge of competitively for the Socceroos and drawn alongside Peru and Denmark, it could prove to be the beginning of the end of a short stint for Van Marwijk, who will step down after the World Cup. 

The Socceroos will aim to keep things tight early on against France and understandably so. For all the drama away from the game, Griezmann is their leading light in the final third, while Ousmane Dembele and Kylian Mbappe are two fine wingers and can put any defence to the sword. Even in reserve, France are blessed with talent in any number of positions and if the going gets tough, Deschamps can call upon Nabil Fekir, Florian Thauvin and super-sub Olivier Giroud to break opponents down. 

Full team news and odds in our match preview

Australia aren’t without their talent, mind you, with ample experience in English football in the form of Aaron Mooy, Mile Jedinak and Massimo Luongo in the middle of the park. The latter made more tackles (149) than any other Championship player last season and his tenacity off the ball will help disrupt France’s rhythm as they look to break forward at speed. 

The absence of Dimitri Payet robs France of that touch of class and guile in the final third, yet the European powerhouse have the means to punish Australia. They’ll be made to work for their goalscoring chances though with Van Marwijk setting his side up to remain compact at the back to do their best to frustrate opponents and hit teams on the counter by maximising the speed of Andrew Nabbout and and Mathew Leckie out wide and Tomi Juric up top. In Daniel Arzani, Van Marwijk has at his disposal the youngest player at the World Cup and having netted his first goal against Hungary, he’ll relish the chance of testing his ability against the best. 

However, as much as football fans would love an upset here, France simply have too much strength in depth and that should prove the difference between themselves and Australia on Saturday. The Socceroos will make things difficult for Deschamps’ side, but you’d expect the one-time World Cup winners to emerge victorious in this one. 

Writer predictions: 

Martin Laurence - France 2-0 Australia

Ben McAleer - France 3-0 Australia

Josh Wright - France 2-0 Australia