France vs. Australia: Tuesday’s World Cup action may feature few goals

France will begin its quest to become the first nation to win consecutive World Cups since Brazil (1958 and 1962) with a match against Australia on Tuesday. Les Bleus are -350 favorites to defeat the Socceroos, but there are reasons to assume that this match will be more of a slog than implied by those odds.

The game is set to begin at 2:00 p.m. ET and will be aired on Fox.

France against Australia forecast

Given that this tournament is taking place in the middle of the club season, we anticipated that there would be many injuries, but maybe no team has been affected more than France. N’golo Kante, Paul Pogba, Karim Benzema, and Christopher Nkunku have all been ruled out of the competition, so replacements will be utilized in the back line, central midfield, and forward positions.

Kylian Mbappe of France, as shown by VCG via Getty Images

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France still possesses sufficient talent to survive the loss of a few more key players. Nonetheless, it may take some time for this team to gel, which won’t be easy against a physical, tireless Australian team that will be content to park the big yellow bus.

Les Bleus will have to do almost all of the heavy lifting for the Over 2.5 in this game, as Australia won’t have much offensive firepower to offer. Given that it will likely take France some time to find its rhythm, it will be difficult for them to score three goals in what could be an ugly match.