France thwarts Australia

Technology twice helped France at the World Cup on Saturday as the 1998 champions labored to beat a gritty Australia 2-1 in their opening game.

The French team was given a controversial penalty kick, eventually converted by Antoine Griezmann in the 58th minute, after the referee watched the replay of a foul on the sideline.

Paul Pogba later scored the winning goal in the 81st minute, and goal-line technology was used to confirm the ball had crossed the line after bouncing down off the crossbar.

“I’m not going to complain about the use of video today,” France coach Didier Deschamps said. “It helped correct a mistake.”

Denmark 1, Peru 0: Kasper Schmeichel’s slew of saves made Yussuf Poulsen’s opportunistic second-half goal stand up. Poulsen squeezed his goal between charging Peru goalkeeper Pedro Gallese and the left post in the 59th minute after collecting a pass from midfielder Christian Eriksen. Appearing at the World Cup for the first time in 36 years, Peru had overwhelming fan support in the Mordovia Arena and the bulk of scoring chances, including a late first-half penalty shot that Christian Cueva sent sailing over the crossbar. Croatia 2, Nigeria 0: Luka Modric set up one goal and scored another from the penalty spot. The Real Madrid midfielder sent in a corner that was headed by two Croatians and then deflected into the net by Nigeria midfielder Oghenekaro Etebo in the 32nd minute. Modric then converted a penalty in the 71st after William Ekong held onto Mario Mandzukic.