OLI GOOD SHOW
Two-goal Giroud equals Henry record as champs off to flier
FRANCE 4 AUSTRALIA 1
FROM SIMON MULLOCK in Doha OLIVIER GIROUD struck twice to join Thierry Henry in the French record books as the world champs hammered the Aussies.
Former Arsenal and Chelsea striker
Giroud took his international tally to 51 to draw level with Les Bleus legend Henry (right) after Didier Deschamps men were given an early shock.
Deschamps said: “I don’t know if Olivier was thinking about the record because he’s a player who
WITH Lionel Messi humbled, Kylian Mbappe last night turned the World Cup into his own personal stage.
Messi came into the tournament as the best player in the world but on this showing his Paris Saint-Germain team-mate has taken over that mantle.
He scored one, set up another, and gave the outclassed Aussies a French lesson. But he wasn’t the only star of the show as France began the defence of their title in the Al Janoub Stadium.
Another was Adrien Rabiot (left), whose attitude cost him the chance of a World Cup medal and a big-money move to Manchester United.
With the third day of the tournament beginning to resemble the third round of the FA Cup – Messi and Argentina losing to Saudi Arabia – Juventus star Rabiot scored one and then set up another for Olivier Giroud to take the spring out of the Socceroos.
Mbappe and Giroud then really made the Aussies pay for giving Les Bleus a bloody nose through Craig Goodwin’s early strike. Giroud’s 51st strike for France means he has now joined Thierry Henry as their record goalscorer.
Four years ago, Le Sulk Rabiot refused Didier Deschamps’ offer of a place on the standby list for Russia and had to watch from home as France lifted the trophy.
In the summer, he blew the chance to move to Old Trafford when United refused to meet wage demands that were said to be extortionate by the club who paid Cristiano Ronaldo £500,000 a week. United fans might not forget but the French will if he continues like this.
Just hours after the amazing humbling of Argentina, the Aussies briefly threatened to produce another giantkilling. Goodwin swept Graham Arnold’s side into a ninth-minute lead with a farpost finish that Mbappe would have been proud of, never mind a journeyman from Adelaide United. And Mitchell Duke, playing in the Japanese second division, came within inches of putting the Aussie’s further ahead with a long-range drive.
Then that man Rabiot decided to intervene.
To be fair, Mbappe was already giving Aussie right-back Nathaniel Atkinson twisted blood. But it needed Rabiot’s far-post header from substitute Theo Hernandez’s cross to haul France level in the 27th minute.
Even Deschamps (left), never
a beast in the air given his lack of inches, instinctively nodded his head when the ball came in.
Five minutes later, Rabiot joined Mbappe in making Atkinson’s life a misery.
First he overpowered the fullback as Australia tried to play out from the back and then he swapped passes with Mbappe before giving Giroud a tap-in.
Mbappe blew the chance of finishing the game before the break when he tried to tear a hole in the back of the net and volleyed over from eight yards.
Mbappe may have got up smirking but, when Duke immediately sent a header bouncing against the outside of Hugo Lloris’ post, he was given a reminder that Australians do enjoy a scrap. If it was Rabiot’s intervention that turned the contest France’s way in the first 45 minutes, then the second half belonged to Mbappe.
He showcased all the tricks of his trade and scored his fifth goal at World Cup finals when he met Ousmane Dembele’s cross with a meaty header in the 68th minute. That’s as many as Zinedine Zidane and Michel Platini.
Three minutes later, he served up the kind of delicious cross that has always been meat and drink to Giroud and the striker went into the record books with a nod of his brow.