Al Janoub Stadium will play host to Wednesday's FIFA World Cup game between France and Australia. The game kicks off at 6:00 am with France heading into the game as favourites with the bookmakers. Continue reading for our in-depth preview of the France vs. Australia game and give you our free tips and bets.

When: Wednesday November 23, 2022 at 6:00 am

Where: Al Janoub Stadium

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It’s deja vu all over again for Australia, as they once again find themselves fighting to escape a World Cup group containing Denmark and France.

At Russia 2018, the Socceroos were drawn in an intimidating section with the same two European heavyweights alongside Peru, but Bert van Marwijk’s men put in a series of stoic performances to make themselves proud.

Eventual World Cup champions France needed a penalty and an 81st-minute own goal to edge to victory against the Socceroos, who followed up with a battling display to earn a 1-1 draw against Denmark. It ended in heartbreak, of course, when a fine performance against Peru somehow returned a 2-0 defeat and sent Australia home early.

The good news is that this time around Peru have already been beaten off – the Socceroos’ penalty shootout success in the intercontinental playoffs against the South Americans going some way to healing old wounds. And their group-stage replacements, Tunisia, could be a softer source of points.

The bad news is that France look just as strong as they did four years ago, while Australia, with dressing room leaders Mile Jedinak and Tim Cahill having long-since retired, look weaker.

This will be a fifth consecutive World Cup finals appearance for the Socceroos, but this is not the class of 2006. And, worryingly, there are question-marks hanging over the form and fitness of several of key players.

Midfielder Tom Rogic has been lacking game time in England at second-tier West Brom, goalkeeper and captain Mat Ryan has fallen out of favour at FC Copenhagen and Awer Mabil has made only a handful of appearances for Spanish side Cadiz. Even worse, playmaker Ajdin Hrustic suffered an ankle injury before the finals started.

Manager Graham Arnold is under pressure after an underwhelming qualifying campaign and a poor performance in the 2019 Asian Cup, but there are some reasons to be hopeful.

Arnold inspired Australia to their best performance yet under him in the intercontinental playoff, not allowing Peru a single shot on target until extra-time. His men created the superior chances to win in normal time and Arnold’s bold call to bring in Andrew Redmayne for the penalty shootout paid off, with the stopper making the save that took his team to Qatar.

Or back to Qatar, more accurately, as one advantage the Socceroos do hold over France is that they will be better acclimatised – this match will be their sixth in Qatar and 13th in the Arabian Peninsula since the start of 2021.

France also go into the World Cup off the back of some indifferent form that saw them finish eight points behind Croatia and seven behind Denmark in their six-match Uefa Nations League group. And that arrived hot on the heels of a failure to fire at Euro 2020, with Didier Deschamps’ men winning only one of four matches and crashing out on penalties to Switzerland in the last 16.

However, the French squad remains packed with immense talent and Australia cannot drop their focus for a second against the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann and Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema.

Against such immense firepower, it is hard to see Arnold’s men holding out for the full 90 minutes and shutting out the World champions.

But Australia have shown their ability to step up to the challenge both in recent months and in recent World Cup tournaments, so the Socceroos can keep things respectable.

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