FIFA World Cup: France vs Australia, 5 Talking Points

#2 Young guns of France fail to fire

Mbappé was France's main attacking threat early on but only showed flashes of his best today

At an average age of 24 years and 6 months, this was France's youngest starting XI in a World Cup opener since 1930, when they played their first ever World Cup game against Mexico. Packed to the rafters with prodigious talents, Les Bleus were touted to navigate through this game without much fuss, but an obstinate Australia kept them at an arm's length.

Both Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé failed to combine regularly enough with Antoine Griezmann in-and-around the area, while wing-backs Benjamin Pavard and Lucas Hernandez left a lot to be desired in their attempts to overlap and create extra options going forward.

Corentin Tolisso too, was a poor reflection of his rip-roaring self that played a starring role for Bayern in the first-half of last season. Pogba flicked in and out of the match, but at least has the winner to his credit and played an important role in creating their opener.

This was a French side that has shown plenty of promise in the months leading up to this, but things quite didn't break for the lads today. Victory aside, they know there's plenty of work to be done going forward.