France faces midfield battle against Australia at World Cup

Even without the injured Karim Benzema, defending World Cup champion France has plenty of attacking power.

Most teams would love to have either Kylian Mbappe, Ant oine Griezmann or Oli vier Giroud in their f orward line, let alone all three. The y ha ve 119 int ernational goals between them, plus an abundance of speed, craft, experience and skill.

But France does not ha ve the same assurances in midfield, and that is w here A ustralia could trouble Les Bleus on Tuesday in their opening Group D match.

While Pogba's form has been up and down since then, Kant e's consistency rarely ever dropped and he's arguably an even bigger loss.

A tir eless runner with an incredible ability t o close down space, surface from anywhere to win the ball and then r elease it cleanly, Kante is one of the best defensive midfielders in w orld soccer. But he's recovering from a hamstring operation and w on't add t o his 53 int ernational appearances.

So Deschamps f aces Australia with a revamped midfield where the most e xperienced pla yer is Adrien Rabiot — Pogba's teammate at Italian club Ju ventus — with 29 appearances.

The 27-year-old Rabiot finally feels ready to emerge as France's new midfield leader.

Now Rabiot will likely line up on the left of a midfield thr ee at Al Janoub Stadium with 22-year-old Aurelien Tchouameni in the center, and either Eduar do Camavainga or 23-year-old Matteo Guendouzi on the right.

But Australia has a solid midfield, too, led by the experienced Aaron Mooy — a t ough tackler and able passer who played two seasons in the Pr emier League with Brighton and has made 53 appearances.

Mathew Leckie was Australia's best player at the 2014 World Cup and poses a threat from the wing. The 31-year-old Leckie is also the national team's top scorer with 13 international goals.

Leckie and Mooy both started against France four years ago.

"We don't want to experience the same feeling we had after that game. Even though we won, we didn't play well enough," France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris said Monday. "We have to be careful of their set pieces and their transition play is good."

But coach Australia coach Graham Arnold's plans for this match were hit when winger Martin Boyle pulled out on Sunday with a knee injury.

Boyle has a decent scoring record with five goals from 19 appearances for Australia.

Messi enters World Cup as Argentina plays Saudi Arabia

Lionel Messi begins his legacydefining World Cup with a game against likely the weakest opponent the Argentina star will face in Qatar.

On a 36-match unbeaten run, Argentina opens the group stage Tuesday against Saudi Arabia — the second lowest-ranked team at the tournament.

It seems like an ideal chance for Messi to push his international goals tally toward a century — he currently has 91 — in what's surely a forlorn attempt to catch the leading men's mark of 117, owned by great rival Cristiano Ronaldo.

How Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni treats Messi for this game in particular, being staged in the 80,000-seat Lusail Iconic Stadium, might be instructive given the captain's fitness has been managed heading into the World

Cup.

The Saudis might have come through Asian qualifying relatively comfortably, but they tend to struggle on soccer's highest stage, reaching the last 16 only once in their five appearances at the World Cup.

They started the 2018 tournament with a 5-0 loss to Russia, the host nation.

Scaloni, Argentina's somewhat accidental coach, has turned his team into an extremely well-balanced unit and back to being a major force in world soccer. Where, many believe, it belongs.

Messi is obviously the star at the center of everything and is looking to finally win the World Cup to boost his standing as arguably soccer's greatest ever player.

Qatar critic Denmark meets Arab nation Tunisia at World Cup

When Denmark meets Tunisia in the World Cup on Tuesday it will pit one of the most outspoken critics of the tournament being hosted by Qatar against one of the four Arab nations competing.

The game at Education City Stadium will also mark Christian Eriksen's return to a major tournament after his cardiac arrest at last year's European Championship.

Denmark has lofty goals following a semifinal appearance at Euro 2020 followed by a nearperfect qualifying campaign, while Tunisia is seeking to advance from the group stage for the first time in its sixth World Cup appearance.

Since arrival in Qatar, Denmark has been training in kits that are all black to mourn migrant workers who died building infrastructure for the tournament.

Denmark was also planning on wearing the "One Love" anti-discrimination armband along with other European teams before the campaign was dropped when FIFA threatened to hand out yellow cards.

Tunisia has produced only two World Cup wins — the first against Mexico in 1978 and then against Panama four years ago in Russia.

But with fans from the country traveling en masse to the first World Cup in the Middle East, coach Jalel Kadri has indicated he will step down if Tunisia fails to reach the knockout rounds. That's a tall task in Group D, which also features defending champion France and Australia.

Tunisia is also counting on loud support from Egyptians and Algerians.

Lewandowski and Poland ready to face Mexico at World Cup

As Poland's all-time leading scorer, Robert Lewandowski is still missing something from his collection: A goal at the World Cup.

That could change on Tuesday against Mexico, Poland's opening opponent in Group C.

At 34, the World Cup in Qatar may be Lewandowski's last chance for a coveted goal in soccer's biggest event.

Poland managed only two goals four years ago in Russia, from Jan Bednarek and Grzegorz Krychowiak, and the team was eliminated from the group stage with losses to Senegal and Colombia.

Poland, ranked No. 26 in the world, didn't even make the 2010 or 2014 World Cups and the team hasn't advanced to the knockout round since 1986. Poland's best finish was third place in West Germany in 1974 and in Spain in 1982.

Mexico has been beset by uncertainty and injuries. Coach Gerardo "Tata" Martino included Wolverhampton Wanderers striker Raul Jimenez, who has been dogged by a groin injury but came off the bench in a 2-1 loss to Sweden last week. It was his first game since August.

Although there were hopes Sevilla forward Jesus Corona could recover from a fractured fibula before the World Cup, he was ultimately left off Mexico's final roster.

Martino has faced criticism for both the team's recent results and his roster decisions.