Live on BBC 1. Coverage starts at 18:30 (GMT). Presented by Gary Lineker. Punditry from Alan Shearer, Didier Drogba and Vincent Kompany. Commentary from Jonathan Pearce and Danny Murphy.
France
The World Champions finally get their defence underway. A few months ago they looked really strong but in recent weeks their squad has been dropping like flies. Pogba and Kante were ruled out a few weeks ago and in the last week they’ve lost Nkunku and Benzema to injury. I’m sure I’m missing a couple of others too. That said their depth is ridiculous, they’ve left players out of their squad that would start for most nations:
France’s recent form hasn’t been the best, they were well beaten twice by Denmark in the Nations League and once by Croatia, they were very close to getting relegated.
Australia
This is Australia’s 5th consecutive World Cup, they’ve only ever made it to 1 more than that. Qualifying has become a bit of a habit for them. It has benefitted them moving to the Asian Qualifying where there is more chance of qualifying. This team would get battered against the Australia teams of old. Gone are the days where their squad would be littered with Premier League players. Not sure they can hope for much more than keeping the score down in their tougher games.
I think it was a bit of a surprise that Australia got through the World playoff by beating Peru, they were big underdogs but managed to beat them on penalties. They haven’t really played anyone this year, that might be down to the stricter coronavirus rules in that part of the world but it hasn't helped them in preparing for this tournament.
France
The World Champions finally get their defence underway. A few months ago they looked really strong but in recent weeks their squad has been dropping like flies. Pogba and Kante were ruled out a few weeks ago and in the last week they’ve lost Nkunku and Benzema to injury. I’m sure I’m missing a couple of others too. That said their depth is ridiculous, they’ve left players out of their squad that would start for most nations:
France’s recent form hasn’t been the best, they were well beaten twice by Denmark in the Nations League and once by Croatia, they were very close to getting relegated.
Australia
This is Australia’s 5th consecutive World Cup, they’ve only ever made it to 1 more than that. Qualifying has become a bit of a habit for them. It has benefitted them moving to the Asian Qualifying where there is more chance of qualifying. This team would get battered against the Australia teams of old. Gone are the days where their squad would be littered with Premier League players. Not sure they can hope for much more than keeping the score down in their tougher games.
I think it was a bit of a surprise that Australia got through the World playoff by beating Peru, they were big underdogs but managed to beat them on penalties. They haven’t really played anyone this year, that might be down to the stricter coronavirus rules in that part of the world but it hasn't helped them in preparing for this tournament.