Soccer-France lead Australia 2-1 at halftime

France recovered from an early deficit to take a 2-1 lead over Australia into halftime as they opened their title defence in a Group D clash at the Al Janoub Stadium on Tuesday.

Australia opened the scoring in the ninth minute through Craig Goodwin but Adrien Rabiot got the French back on level terms in the 27th with Olivier Giroud putting them ahead with a tap-in five minutes later.