Australia at France 6/16/18 - World Cup Picks & Predictions

France will lock horns against Australia in the opening match for Group C in the World Cup, with the French looking to make a solid start in the tournament. Australia are in here for the experience, and it would be considered a success if they avoided a huge loss in what is their hardest match in the group.

France have a great generation of players with their offense led by Griezmann, Giroud and Mbappe. Their midfield is also world-class with Manchester United’s Paul Pogba and Chelsea’s Ngolo Kante, while Tottenham’s Hugo Lloris is the starting goalkeeper. France were pretty solid in the qualifying phase for this World Cup, as they finished at the top of their respective Group (7-1-2). Since then they have played seven warm-up friendlies against opponents of various levels of difficulty and lost just once, against Colombia (4-1-2). Australia finished at the 3rd spot of their qualifying group that also featured Japan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iraq and Thailand. They defeated Syria on aggregate by 2-3 in order to reach the inter-continental playoffs, where after holding out for a goal-less draw in Honduras, they won by 1-3 at home. Since then they have played just four friendlies (2-1-1), defeating Hungary (2-1) and the Czech Republic (0-4) in their last two.