Giroud to be soon ‘King of France'
Zidane, Platini, Henry, Benzema, Mbappe, Griezmann, Fontaine…. when you think of all the superstars who have graced the French shirt over the years, no-one would ever have bet on Olivier Giroud outscoring the lot of them.
But the much-maligned 36-year-old has now equalled Thierry Henry’s 51-goal international record after silencing his army of critics with a Doha double as they humbled Australia 4-1 yesterday (Fiji time).
And it is surely only a matter of time before he is out there on his own as the King of France.
Maybe even as soon as Denmark on Saturday.
The former Arsenal and Chelsea target man didn’t manage a single shot on target despite playing in all seven games when Les Bleus won the World Cup in Russia four years ago. But with the defending champions in danger of suffering the biggest upset on a day of shocks, it was Giroud who came to the rescue of suffering boss Didier Deschamps. What’s more, he opened his Qatar account with his first effort of the night to justify Deschamps’ bold decision not to call up a replacement for the injured Karim Benzema. He reached his half century when Kylian Mbappe sent full-back Nat Atkinson into the crowd with an audacious backheel before Adrien Rabiot laid it on a plate for the veteran Milan striker.
And he hauled himself level with Henry in the 72nd minute when Mbappe hung up a cross and Giroud forced his way between the Aussie central defenders to power a header past keeper Mat Ryan.
It was just what Deschamps needed to steady his nerves after Rabiot had headed a 27th minute equaliser.
Lewandowski's big miss
Meanwhile, Robert Lewandowski’s wait for a World Cup goal continues as he blew the chance to put his country in Pole position in Group C. Lewandowski had the opportunity to break his tournament duck with a 57th-minute penalty after the VAR spotted he had been tugged to the ground by Hector Moreno.
But the Barcelona star could not deliver the goal he and the game had been crying out for, because veteran Mexico goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa made a fantastic save to settle for a 0-0 draw.
Victory for Poland, would have been hard on the Mexicans.
Their supporters brought the atmosphere and their team provided most of the attacking intent, but they could not turn it into the goal they needed. And in the end neither side was able to take advantage of Argentina’s shock defeat by Saudi Arabia by winning the match and taking a big step towards the knockout stages. The pool competition continues today.