DOHA, Qatar -- Four years on from suffering a 2-1 defeat at the hands of France, Australia are looking at their rematch at the 2022 FIFA World Cup as a second chance to make things right.
Facing off with the eventual champions in their opening game of the 2018 tournament in Kazan, a dogged and determined Socceroo outfit pushed Didier Deschamps' outfit hard in Russia.
Heading into the final 10 minutes locked at 1-1 after Mile Jedinak had cancelled out Antoine Griezmann's spot kick with one of his own, it took an own goal from Aziz Behich to eventually lift Les Bleus to a shaky win in what would become a glorious tournament.
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Aaron Mooy, Behich, Mat Ryan, Jackson Irvine, and Mat Leckie all featured in that fixture and, four years on, are present in coach Graham Arnold's 26-player squad in Qatar.
And with the Socceroos and France once again set to face off with each other on Tuesday to commence their 2022 campaign -- and another opponent from 2018, Denmark, also in the group -- Leckie sees it as an opportunity to address some past wrongs.
"Us as a leadership group had a bit of a chat about it and said that this is our second chance, almost, because we play against the same teams as last time," Leckie said.
"We were so close but so far last time. We threw everything at it but we missed out. So it's a second chance to make things right and give us the opportunity to make things go our way.
"The boys have a belief as a squad, but I think the belief is even more there because of how well we did against them last time. It's just the one or two percent more that will get us over the line."
Constantly on the lookout for ways to motivate his squad and reinforce in their minds the importance of a fighting spirit and belief in victory, Arnold has used the 2018 fixture as one of many points of inspiration in Doha.
"I have meetings with the players and the leadership," Arnold said. "I had meetings with the players that played in those games. The group's basically the same.
"I asked how did they feel about playing those games and how did they feel after the game? And a lot of them said it was only after the game that they felt that they were just as good or could have been better.
"That's the mentality you got to go in with. Don't tell me after. Let's go on with that belief before, making sure that from the first minute, the first whistle, that we are ready to go."
Of the players that featured, six starters from that 2018 contest will return in 2022 for France, as will striker Olivier Giroud, who featured off the bench. A wave of injuries, however, has robbed Deschamps of his ability to roll out veterans of that contest such as Paul Pogba and N'Golo Kante, meaning a new generation will need to step up.
"[Australia is] a very good team," French midfielder Eduardo Camavinga, who didn't train on Sunday evening, said. "Already, if they were able to qualify for the World Cup, it's because it's a good team. We studied this team well with the coach and the staff. We expect to have a tough game because they put us in trouble four years ago."
"We saw it in 2018, they put us in difficulty, we worked on it, the coach warned us."