An impressive performance from Australia, set-up superbly by coach Bert van Marwijk, the Socceroos worked non-stop in the Kazan sunshine and were unlucky not to grab a share of the points.
In the end they lost out to a Paul Pogba toe-poke that ballooned up over Matt Ryan off Aziz Behich’s boot and into the net.
Here are our player ratings for the hardworking Australians:
Matt Ryan – 7: Was not at fault for either goal with Griezmann’s penalty smashed into the right corner and Pogba’s strike an unlucky deflection, did well to clean up a loose back pass from Leckie on 66 minutes
Josh Risdon – 7: Unlucky to give away the penalty with a foul on Griezmann, apart from that worked hard and kept Mbappe fairly quiet, stepped up on the big stage with four tackles
Trent Sainsbury – 8: Van Marwijk pulled a late change with Jedinak re-taking the captain’s armband but Sainsbury still stood tall in the middle of the Australian back four
Mark Milligan – 8: The Aussie veteran was outstanding against the star-studded France front three, a game high 87 touches as Australia used his steadying influence
Aziz Behich – 7: Did a job on Dembele and also tried to get forward with one attempt on goal, unlucky to deflect Pogba’s shot into the net
Mile Jedinak – 8: A surprise starter, captain courageous took the penalty with an ice-cool finish, stood tall in the middle of the park
Aaron Mooy – 8: Close to best on ground, the midfielder was in everything with a game high 5 tackles, 79 touches and 58 passes
Mathew Leckie – 8: Among Australia’s best and much of the Socceroos spark in attack started with him, ready to take on the France defenders and three shots on goal
Robbie Kruse – 7: Worked hard on the left and tracked back well to cover Mbappe, five tackles and an 80% pass accuracy
Tom Rogic – 6: Guilty of over-playing his hand at times in an effort to make his mark on the match, lost the ball three times but game high 93% accuracy rate in passing for Socceroos, replaced on 70 minutes
Andrew Nabbout- 6: Substituted on 60 minutes, tried hard but found the going tough with little service against the quality France back line
Substitutes:
Tomi Juric – 5: Came on for Nabbout but posed little threat to the France back four, Tim Cahill may have been a better option
Jordan Irvine – 6: Replaced Rogic with 18 minutes left to try and spark something up front but could not find Juric with a killer pass
Daniel Arzani – 7: Only given six minutes by Van Marwijk but made an impression creating a chance late on with a clever key pass