TEAM NEWS
France and Peru could name unchanged XIs for their Group C tie but Olivier Giroud will be hoping for a start after he was involved in the build-up to the winning goal against Australia.
Peru’s all-time leading scorer Paolo Guerrero could also earn a start in attack after coming off the bench in the narrow 1-0 defeat by Denmark.
Guerrero, Peru’s captain, had a 14-month drug ban lifted so he could play in Russia after the captains of rivals Australia, Denmark and France wrote to Fifa asking it to lift the ban.
OVERVIEW
France went into the competition as one of the favourites but they needed a late own goal to break Australian resistance in their opening game in Group C on Saturday.
Paul Pogba’s lobbed effort deflected off Australia full-back Aziz Behich after history was made with the World Cup’s first video assistant referee-enabled goal.
VAR penalised Josh Risdon for a sliding challenge on Antoine Griezmann and the Atletico Madrid striker scored the spot-kick before Australia equalised through Mile Jedinak’s penalty.
Peru’s World Cup campaign started with defeat against Denmark after the South American side has missed a penalty.
Christian Cueva’s strike flew over the crossbar - after another VAR-awarded spot kick - and that miss proved crucial as the Danes took the lead through Yussuf Poulsen, who had conceded the penalty.
Peru are competing in their first World Cup finals since 1982 and more than 40,000 Peruvians have travelled to Russia to cheer them on.
VIEW FROM BOTH CAMPS
France defender Raphael Varane : "Some things were not done that well [in the first match]. We know that we will have to defend with more intensity, but mostly defend together.
"We’re still at the start of the competition. We shouldn’t dramatise [the situation] even though we have to be aware of the things that didn’t go so well during the last match.
“We’ve made our assessments. We have talked among players. We’ve talked to the coach. We know where we want to go for the next match.”
Peru forward Raul Ruidiaz:"It was amazing to see a lot of Peruvians in Saransk singing our national anthem with passion. We know what this World Cup means to our people.
“Every time we go to the field, we leave everything on the field.”
Peru left-back Miguel Trauco : “We have to correct the details that cost us defeat. Our greatest confidence is knowing that we play good football, and we can match any team.”
Crestfallen…he looks just like me. 
Can’t you get BOTOX these days if your crest has fallen?
Hopefully free on the NHS for pensioners. A perky crest is always preferred plumage.
2 Likes
We’re out
Suppose i should clear out the Peruvian rum.
Conveniently i have the day off work tomorrow 
2 Likes
A conciliation prize for Peru. The best fans(maybe).
I heard 40,000, but my favourite would be this father.
“She just told me we shouldn’t have come,” said Rafael Jiménez nodding at his daughter María, who turned away shyly, stuffing her head into her father’s trouser leg. “And I said that this is history, you might never see this again so we had to be here. Sometimes football is like this,” he sighed.
I raise my glass to you Rafael and all the proud Peruvians. I will be eating more of your food and drinking more of your rum from now on.
Yep, and that looks like your last birthday card.
1 Like
Tyke’s out tonight but there’s already talk of what he’s going to spend his winnings on when the frogs win the World Cup. When do I break it to him that I paid for his entry ticket and he’s too young to gamble …
1 Like
Crestfallen…he looks just like me. 
