France 2 Australia 1: Late Pogba shot bounces just over the line to gift the French scrappy opening victory in VAR-affected game
Both sides were awarded - and converted - controversial spot-kicks as the video assistant was called on time and time again
FORTUNATE France were left relying on World Cup technology to see off battling Australia in the opening Group C game in Kazan.
Didier Deschamps’ team were on the receiving end of the first VAR penalty in the tournament’s history.
And then they were awarded an 81st minute by the goal-line technology after the Aussies had levelled with a spot-kick of their own.
The men from Down Under were fuming when Uruguayan ref Andres Cunha awarded France their 58th minute penalty after Griezmann went down under Josh Risdon’s challenge as they chased Paul Pogba’s through ball.
But he was persuaded to look another look at the incident by VAR official Mauro Vigliano and after studying the action on the pitch-side TV ruled that Ridson had caught Griezmann’s trailing leg.
Ridson argued that the contact was purely accidental but Griezmann was not to be distracted as he buried his shot past keeper Mat Ryan.
Yet just when it was beginning to look as though the French were going to get away with a lucky victory, they were stopped in their tracks by Samuel Umtiti’s moment of madness.
Adrian Mooy’s probing free-kick into the box was heading towards the forehead of French centre-half Raphael Varane until Barcelona defender Umtiti inexplicably punched the ball away.
Ref Cunha seemed to take an age to make up his mind before presenting Aston Villa veteran Mile Jedinak with the chance to send Hugo Lloris the wrong way with his 62nd minute spot-kick.
France, though, were not to be denied and claimed an ill-deserved victory when Pogba’s shot took a deflection off Aussie defender Aziz Behich and looped over Ryan.
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The Brighton keeper snatched the ball after it bounced down off the bar but not before the cameras had spotted that it had already crossed the line.
It was a bitter blow for the Aussies after they had survived an early onslaught to give French boss Deschamps some serious concerns.
The Concacaf champions knew they were in for a busy afternoon right from the start, with keeper Ryan forced into four saves in the first eight minutes alone.
The pick of the bunch came when Kylian Mbappe got in behind centre-half Mark Milligan for a fierce angled shot which Brighton star Ryan did well to push around his near post.
Yet totally against the run of play, the men from Down Under almost snatched a shock 17th minute lead when Adrian Mooy’s free-kick was flicked on by Mathew Leckie.
French midfielder Corentin Tolisso tried to clear the danger but only succeeded in diverting Leckie’s header towards his own goal and it took the remarkable reactions of Hugo Lloris to claw the ball away.
It was the first sign that this young French team could be susceptible to stage fright in what for many of them was their first appearance at a major international tournament.
And they clearly did not fancy their opponents’ no-nonsense approach, with Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele and Lucas Hernandez regularly going to ground whenever challenged.
Having battled through 22 qualifying matches to get to Russia, Australia clearly were not going to go down without a fight.
But it wasn't quite enough as they were seen off right at the death by Pogba's late winner.