Striker Olivier Giroud scored two goals in the opening match of the French national football team in the World Cup against Australia, on Tuesday, to become the all-time top scorer jointly with Thierry Henry, and lead the team from a goal down to win 4-1 in the Group D competitions.
This victory silenced the talk about the existence of a curse that always accompanies the title holder.
Australia suddenly opened the scoring at Al Janoub Stadium in Qatar, when Craig Goodwin finished the ball superbly in the net with a perfect cross pass from Matthew Leakey after nine minutes of the match.
But France equalized with Adrien Rabiot's header in the net, and Giroud gave them the lead before the end of the first half.
Kylian Mbappe headed home in the 68th minute before Giroud added his 51st international goal 3 minutes later, making him equal with Henry as France's historical scorer.
And coach Didier Deschamps' squad, who topped Group D after Denmark's 0-0 draw with Tunisia earlier today, ended a series of bad starts for the World Cup champions after the three former champions, Italy, Spain and Germany, failed to achieve that victory in the first match in the tournament. The next version to crown the world title.
Giroud joined the squad for his 115th cap, after Karim Benzema was excluded from the tournament due to injury last Saturday.
Giroud equaled the record set by Henry in his international career of 123 matches from 1997 to 2010.
France will miss prominent players who participated in the World Cup in Russia in 2018, including Paul Pogba, Blaise Matuidi, Ngolo Conte and defender Samuel Umtiti, as well as the absence of Karim Benzema.
Source: agencies
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