FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football – Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup – Group D – France v Australia – Al Janoub Stadium, Al Wakrah, Qatar – November 22, 2022 Olivier Giroud of France celebrates scoring second goal with Ousmane Dembele REUTERS/Matthew Childs
DOHA – Olivier Giroud will bid to become France’s all-time leading goalscorer when they face Denmark in Group D at the World Cup on Saturday, with ‘Les Blues’ looking for a win. won to get them into the round of 16 with a spare match in Qatar.
Goalscorer Giroud is level with Thierry Henry on the following 51 goals scored twice in a 4-1 win over Australia on Tuesday.
“Titi, I’m here for you,” Giroud joked after the match against Australia, in which he benefited from Kylian Mbappe’s impressive display.
While the defending champions have had a convincing start to the campaign, there will be no complacency in the match against Denmark. Didier Deschamps’ side have lost their last two meetings with Denmark in the Nations League.
Attackers Mbappe, Giroud, Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele all started against Australia but Deschamps may want to take a more cautious approach on Saturday.
“We see that there are no small teams in modern football. We saw that against Denmark,” said Dembele, his memory still fresh after two recent losses to Denmark.
At centre-back, Deschamps could summon experienced Raphael Varane as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury while Theo Hernandez should start at left-back after his brother Lucas was injured. Disqualified from the competition due to a knee injury.
Denmark were held to a goalless draw by Tunisia in their opening match and coach Kasper Hjulmand said they would have to speed up against France.
Hjulmand told reporters: “If you don’t accelerate ahead of France, you could be in trouble… we have to speed up, but we are willing to do it, to find ourselves again.”
Denmark captain Simon Kjaer will be tasked with keeping Giroud quiet.
“I wish Ollie the best, but hopefully I have the edge,” he said. “In my opinion, Ollie is also one of the best strikers in the box, perhaps underrated as a striker.”
Denmark will be without midfielder Thomas Delaney, who picked up a knee injury in the first half against Tunisia and was ruled out for the rest of the tournament.
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