France vs. Australia
Group C favourites France kick off their World Cup campaign on Saturday morning when they take on Australia at the Kazan Arena.
Monaco full-back Djibril Sidibe has been cleared to play after a knee injury and Fifa.com journalist Adrien Gingold reports that France head coach Didier Deschamps has a fully-fit squad to choose from.
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The BBC says that Deschamps is expected to select youngsters Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele up front alongside Antoine Griezmann. Chelsea’s Olivier Giroud will start from the bench.
When asked about playing alongside Griezmann and Dembele, Mbappe said: “We are three players who appreciate each other. We put our egos on the side. There are not a lot of teams who have a better attacking line-up than us.
“We can bring some carefreeness, some joie de vivre in a competition where pressure is always weighing on the squad.”
World Cup group C fixtures
- 16 June: France vs. Australia (11am, BBC); Peru vs. Denmark (5pm, BBC)
- 21 June: Denmark vs. Australia (1pm, ITV); France vs. Peru (4pm, ITV)
- 26 June: Denmark vs. France (3pm, ITV); Australia vs. Peru (3pm, ITV4)
For the Socceroos, The Daily Telegraph suggests that captain Mile Jedinak could be on the bench after coach Bert van Marwijk paired Aaron Mooy and Massimo Luongo in central midfield during training.
Van Marwijk said of facing France: “Normally, we play ten times against France, maybe we lose eight, nine times. We have worked hard to get a situation that maybe we lose five, six times [out of ten] but we also can win a few times and a few times draw.
“That’s important. When you’re well organised and you believe in something and everybody knows exactly from each other what to do and you have the guts to play and be yourself, then we have a chance.”
Denmark take on Peru in group C’s other game on Saturday.