World Cup highlights Saudi Arabia steals the show in Qatar

We have seven minutes of stoppage time for France-Australia, so this one still has some time left.

France has made two more subs as we tick down toward the final whistle, with Marcus Thuram and Jules Koundé entering. Benjamin Pavard and two-goal scorer Olivier Giroud head to the bench.

Up 4-1 over Australia, France is starting to get its starters off the field. Youssouf Fofana and Kingsley Coman are in, Aurélien Tchouaméni and Ousmane Dembélé are off.

Kylian Mbappé’s attempts to score had mostly been stymied by Australia’s defense Tuesday, and he had one clear chance go above the crossbar in the first half. But in the 68th minute, the French star finally knocked one home, heading a cross off the post and into the goal to give France a 3-1 lead.

Mbappé, one of the favorites to win the Golden Boot as the World Cup’s top scorer, now has 29 international goals for France in his career.

Three minutes later, Mbappé drove deep past the Australian defense and sent a cross to Olivier Giroud, who scored his second headed goal of the game for a 4-1 lead. Giroud tied Theirry Henry for the most goals in France history with 51.

Make it another for France.

This time Kylian Mbappé registered the assist, crossing the ball to Olivier Giroud, who headed the ball into the back of the net in the 71st minute for his second score of the day to make it 4-1 France.

Kylian Mbappé extended France’s lead, 3-1, scoring his first goal of the tournament after a series of promising chances for Les Bleus.

France is pressing forward and controlling possession (about 60-40 percent), albeit without creating great chances through the opening minutes of the second half. Despite that lack of production, Les Bleus hold a significant shot advantage (15-4).

Australia’s Mitchell Duke was assessed the game’s first yellow card in the 55th minute, then was subbed off moments later for Jason Cummings (a dual citizen who is on his second national team, having previously made a few appearances for Scotland).

Olivier Giroud almost made it 3-1 with a spectacular scissor-kick goal in the 50th minute. Alas, it went wide.

For more than a few minutes Tuesday, it looked as if France would suffer the same shocking fate as Argentina, its fellow World Cup favorite that somehow fell to Saudi Arabia earlier Tuesday. The defending champion had surrendered an early goal to Australia, and its lauded offensive attack was not piecing anything together.

Reality soon intervened, however. Adrien Rabiot and Olivier Giroud rather effortlessly scored twice within five minutes, and France leads Australia, 2-1, at halftime.

Craig Goodwin gave the Australians the lead in the ninth minute, finishing off a pass from Mathew Leckie after he found room to roam because French defender Lucas Hernandez had toppled to the pitch, the victim of an apparent knee injury. Hernandez, who stars for German titan Bayern Munich, was replaced by his younger brother Theo, and it was another injury to consider for a French team already missing star striker Karim Benzema.

France fell behind, took the lead, and now appears to have unlocked the Austrailian defense in the final minutes before halftime. Les Bleus have continued to threaten with recent misses by Ousmane Dembélé, Antoine Griezmann, Oliver Giroud and Kylian Mbappé.

Australia’s Jackson Irvine had a chance to equalize late in the half, but his headed effort hit the post.

Around 10 minutes after Theo Hernandez took the pitch, replacing his injured brother, Lucas, the AC Milan fullback helped France equalize against Australia. Following a set piece, the ball found Hernandez, who lobbed it into the box before Adrien Rabiot’s header tied the game.

That came in the 27th minute.

In the 32nd, Rabiot served as the liaison between French star Kylian Mbappé and forward Olivier Giroud, who scored an easy goal to put France ahead after the early deficit.