Super Saturday at the World Cup begins with the Group C opener between France and Australia as the first of four matches on a potentially wonderful day of football gets going with what should be a good encounter in Kazan.
This group has the potential to be the most open of the tournament so both teams will undoubtedly be eager to get off to a winning start to ease the pressure on themselves for two more competitive matches to come.
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France
The French go into this tournament fancied by many to triumph in Russia over the course of the piece. The Euro2016 finalists look even stronger in this competition than they did then and if they can gel as one then there is no end to their potential here. They qualified for the tournament very strongly and fully justify their lofty position in people’s thoughts.
Didier Deschamps has a number of excellent attacking options at his disposal and with some quality midfielders looking to supply them France should be very pleasing on the eye in this event. They look strong enough on paper at the back too but I always feel uneasy when they are massive favourites in a match. It isn’t a role they tend to play well.
Australia
Now that they are in the Asian set up Australia had to do it the hard way to make it back to the World Cup. They had to take on Honduras over two legs in a play-off tie but having come through that they are here to make a difference. They have the memories of last year’s Confederations Cup to call on so they certainly won’t be lacking in competitive sharpness.
If you follow Australian sport at all, regardless of what sport it is, you will know their philosophy is very much to have a go and fear nobody, which in the modern world is very refreshing. I don’t expect their approach to change here although it should be noted they are under a new manager since they qualified.
Team News
It would appear that Ousmane Dembele is going to get the nod in the third forward role with Olivier Giroud having to do with a place on the bench. Djibril Sidibe is said to be suffering from a knee injury so he could miss out.
Tim Cahill is expected to begin the match on the bench with Bert van Marwijk’s main decision being whether to go with Tomi Juric through the middle or Jamie Maclaren. There is talk Mile Jedinak could be saved but that would make little sense.
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Betting
I am expecting some good attacking play to be on show in this match. I say that because you look at this France front three and it oozes quality but Australia will look to get the ball forward themselves and try and get at the French defence as much as they can.
We saw in the Confederations Cup last year that Australia can be exposed defensively and with the quality in the French midfield you would think that defence will be opened up a fair bit. Given how Australia like to play their football though I think the style of this game should ignite nicely for the over 2.5 goals to land.
Tips
WON – Back Over 2.5 goals for a 4/10 stake at 1.84 with Karamba
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