Our football match prediction:
France
Match Time & Date:
16/06/2018
11:00 GMT
Prediction: 2-1
Australia
Despite being regarded as hot favourites to win EURO 2016, France eventually suffered a loss to Portugal in the final of the tournament in their homeland. Didier Deschamps, though, remained in charge of the French national team and the experienced tactician and his men certainly want to go all the way at the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals. France kick off their World Cup campaign with a match against Australia and they are likely to adopt an attack-minded approach in Saturday’s football game against the Socceroos. The Australians will, as always, rely on veteran Tim Cahill against France, but seeing that the Socceroos failed to impress in the qualifiers, we predict les Tricolores will emerge triumphant in their World Cup opener. A man to watch in Didier Deschamps’ team will be Atletico Madrid attacker Antoine Griezmann, who helped los Rojiblancos beat Olympique Marseille in the Europa League final.
Highlighted Player (Pogba):
After spending four seasons at Juventus, Paul Pogba returned to Manchester United in the summer of 2016. The French midfielder signed a five-year deal with the Premier League giants for a world-record fee of €105 million. He set an all-time record for highest football transfer fee, surpassing Gareth Bale, the former record holder. However, he missed the 2016/2017 Premier League opener against Bournemouth through suspension. Pogba was born in Lagny-sur-Marne, France on 15 March, 1993 and he represents les Tricolores on the international stage. He won the 2013 FIFA U20 World Cup with France, while making it to the Euro 2016 final with Didier Deschamps’ troops. However, they were beaten by Portugal in the title game at Stade de France. It has to be noted that Paul Pogba won four Serie A trophies with Juventus. He produced a fine display in the 2013/2014 Champions League final against Barcelona, but Juve suffered a 3-1 loss to Barca in the Olympiastadion Berlin clash. Pogba is a central midfielder, but he is capable of playing as an attacking and a defensive midfielder as well.
Highlighted Team (Australia):
Australia are a member of the Asian Football Confederation as they left the Oceania Football Confederation in 2006. The Socceroos made it to the World Cup finals for the first time back in 1974, but they failed to make it to the knockout stages of the showpiece tournament in Germany. In 2006, though, the Australians did well to advance to the last 16 of the FIFA World Cup, but eventual champions Italy proved to be a big catch for Guus Hiddink’s troops. Australia participated at the World Cup finals in 2010 and 2014 as well, but they failed to impress at the tournaments in South Africa and Brazil respectively. In 2015 the Socceroos won the Asian Cup trophy, with the team beating South Korea in the title game and that is regarded as the team’s biggest success. Tim Cahill is considered one of the most famous footballers that played for Australia and it has to be noted that the former Premier League star scored his 48th goal for the Socceroos in a 1-0 win over UAE in September, 2016.
