World Cup 2018 Betting Tips - Australia v France

The soccer World Cup 2018 begins on Thursday, with host nation Russia kicking things off proceedings against Saudi Arabia.

Interest from a domestic viewpoint begins on Saturday, when Australia go to Kazan to play the first of their three games in Group C against France, very much one of the favourites to ultimately win the prized trophy.

Player for player, there is no doubt that France are a vastly superior team to Australia and if they play to their full potential, there is only ever going to be one result in this World Cup match.

However, this is the first game of what France will be hoping is seven matches over the course of the next month and it might just take them a little while to hit their stride.  For their part, the Socceroos will unquestionably be up for this game and what they may lack in finesse, they will almost certainly make up for with their work ethic and organization under Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk.

Van Marwijk knows a bit about the World Cup, having taken his home nation all the way to the final in 2010.  That is almost certainly beyond the capabilities of this Australia squad, but a top two finish in Group C and progress into the last 16 of the competition is a realistic and achievable target.

Van Marwijk was actually in charge of Saudi Arabia for their qualification campaign and only stepped in as Australia coach following the resignation of Ange Postecoglou once the Socceroos had navigated the play-offs.  Australia did make heavy weather of qualifying for these finals, ultimately requiring 22 games to get the job done.

There’s no great quality of player available in the current Australian set-up, although in Aaron Mooy and Tom Rogic they do possess a couple of players with creativity, while Tim Cahill still presents a goal threat from the bench at the age of 39.

A narrow defeat against France need not be disastrous for Australia, so backing them at 9/10 (1.90) on the Asian Handicap +1.75 goals with Unibet looks reasonable.  An Australian, win, draw or one-goal margin loss would be a winning bet, whilst a two-goal defeat would still result in you getting half your stake returned.