Scorer of two goals in France’s 4-1 victory over Australia in the debut of the World Cup in Qatar, striker Giroud left the field as the main highlight of the team. With the goals, he equaled Thierry Henry in the artillery of the French national team, with 51 goals.
After the game, he said he felt blessed to have the opportunity to match Henry, praised the team’s confidence to pursue the result after trailing behind on the scoreboard, but also made it clear that there was still room for improvement.
“What to improve? The whole start of the game, if we want to be perfect. We have to get into the game better. We were a little scared, but we reacted quickly afterwards. We managed to get back on the scoreboard and continue, even though we could have scored more goals, we found ourselves well, we were effective. But not everything is perfect. It’s very good for dynamics and confidence to have turned the tide. We’ll have to learn from these small mistakes”, said the 36-year-old, the oldest player to score for France in World Cups (the former record holder was Zidane, with 34).
Regarding the fact that he scored two goals in his debut, while even being champion of the Russian Cup, in 2018, he ended up without scoring, the center forward said that they are different situations.
“Honestly no [sinto-me aliviado]🇧🇷 I always try to help the team however I can and the objective is, whenever I have the opportunity, to put the ball in the net. This time I couldn’t lose, if I may say so, because I got big balls. If you look at the 2018 World Cup, I didn’t get as many balls as I expected. But they are different types of games. Now it’s good for confidence for the next game,” he said.
Regarding Didier Deschamps’ speech to the squad after the bad start, Giroud said that the coach asked the players to set the alarm clock before the game.
Midfielder Rabiot also praised his team’s performance. “The team and I feel very good today. Despite having several players without injured players, we managed to start the competition very well. That is the most important thing. We have to continue like this.”
The sad note of the duel was the injury of left-back Lucas Hernández right at the beginning, in the Australian goal bid. He sprained his right knee and will undergo tests this Wednesday (23). Deschamps is pessimistic and says that there is a great chance that the athlete will be cut again.
“He has to undergo tests, but it seems very serious to me”, said the captain after the match. “It will need to be confirmed anyway, but it’s the big black point tonight.”
Giroud dedicated the win to his teammate after the match. “We are very sad to be losing another teammate in the competition. I would like to dedicate the result to Lucky.”
Before the Cup, the French team, current world champions, lost Kamara, Maignan, Paul Pogba, Kanté, Kimpembe, Nkunku and Benzema, all injured. If the seriousness of Hernández’s injury is confirmed, the coach will have one less athlete at his disposal, since he can only call a substitute up to 24 hours before the first game of the World Cup.
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