70’ Giroud and Fekir for Griezmann and DembéléA change up front for Deschamps, and good news for me, too, as I lose to accents with 20 minutes to go. Giroud, by the way, has his head taped like he had to put down his fife and drum to come on. He immediately strides to the center of the Australia penalty area and waits for service. Maybe the French trainers should have painted a big ‘X’ on the front of that tape headband.
”Chris Clarey: I feel like I’m in Australia. The French fans, who are surely a shorter flight away, are getting outshouted by a lot. But the French midfield is not exactly making us forget Platini and Zidane, either. The front three of Griezmann, Mbappé and Dembélé looks fluid and dangerous, however. Given a chance, they can make something happen very quickly. 44’ Tight Defense, Tight GameAustralia has settled into a very narrow set of two lines of four, and they’re breaking up any attempt to go through — or over — their back line. France would do well to stretch the field, both now and in the second half.
”France’s coach, Didier Deschamps, was understandably more sanguine. “I am not going to complain with the use of video today because it was in our favor, obviously, ” he said. “In our friendlies, we’ve already had situations when it was not in our favor. This is the way it is. We’ve been warned that in some situations, V. can be used. ”Whatever the gray areas, France’s lead did not last long: Less than four minutes later, Samuel Umtiti, its sturdy central defender, inadvertently touched an Australian cross with his extended right hand. After a slight delay — just long enough for observers to wonder if Cunha had heard from Moscow about the handball, which was clear but difficult to discern as it barely affected the ball’s trajectory — he awarded another penalty. This time, he did not bother to make a trip to the sideline.
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“The criticisms are always there, ” Pogba said. “When I played when I was a boy, my buddies and I used to tease each other: ‘You’re bad. You’re good. You’re not. ’ We never really paid attention to this. It was always the game and what happened on the field that spoke the loudest. So now it’s a bit like those days for me. Today, the most important thing is the result, and if I can help the team, I’m very proud.
The motor on him must be one of the world’s great renewable energy sources. 85’ Tech Is Also Winning TodayLike it or not, this game may be an advertisement for V. and goal-line technology, two innovations added — amid much furor — to help officials in the last two World Cup cycles. V. confirmed the first penalty, seemed to be behind the delayed call that awarded the second, and goal-line technology just gave Pogba the third. The goal of each innovation was to get calls right, and in each case today, that appears to be what happened.
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France Passes First World Cup Test. So Does V. A. R. (Published 2018)Credit... Franck Fife/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesKAZAN, Russia — After 88 years of soccer players, coaches and fans crying foul, there is finally a second chance for a referee to confirm whether a penalty is indeed a penalty at the World Cup. It did not take long for that rule change to play a major role in Russia. France’s first goal in its 2-1 victory over Australia on Saturday, the third day of competition here, was a direct result of input from the video-assistant-referee system known as V. [Up Next: Follow our live coverage of France vs. Denmark]The V.
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Keep an eye on Pogba for the first 15 minutes or so. He’ll need to be better, and more involved, than he was in the first half. Sergio Perez/ReutersHalftime: All SquareAustralia will be happy with how that went, France not so much. Oddly, the best chance of the half went to the Socceroos, but one gets the sense that France has the talent to sort this out an pry open the defense as Australia tires in the second half. They just can’t expect to walk the ball into the net the way Australia is standing shoulder to shoulder in the center. Worst case, Deschamps can just throw on Olivier Giroud, lob some balls in the box, and see what he can do. For some reason, he always seems to get his head on one or two. Van Marwijk, for one, would just prefer to see more of the same. “Not always the best players win prizes, ” he said Friday. “A lot of times, it’s the best team. We would like to be the best team.
Under FIFA’s rules, the on-field referee has the final word on all V. reviews, but also has the option of simply accepting the word of the V. official, who has immediate access to television replays. It was unclear, however, if that happened in this case. The Australia captain, Mile Jedinak, who was impossible to miss on the field with his long salt-and-pepper beard, did not waste the opportunity, converting the penalty with a fast-rolling shot as goalkeeper Hugo Lloris dived to his right. The 3-minute-7-second gap between the goals was the shortest period between two penalties scored by opposing teams in a World Cup match. The score then remained tied as the game moved deep into the second half.
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system — which has had extensive testing by World Cup referees in training but, to its critics, far too little in live matches — is being used for the first time in a World Cup. And though the thousands of Australian fans who made the long trek to Kazan voiced their displeasure with the decision it produced early in the second half on Saturday, the new technology appeared, by most measures, to have worked as designed.
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