'Go-karting' Giroud helps France zoom past opening hurdle

Team First Defending Champs Since Brazil In 2006 To Win Opening Game

- Dwaipayan Datta

Karim Benzema, during his days of French exile, once famously compared himself to Formula One, denigrating Olivier Giroud to the tag of ‘go-karting’.

But when the Formula One car broke down just when it mattered, due to lack of necessary pit-stops in the build-up to the World Cup, it’s go-karting that took over to help France break a famous jinx that has been bothering defending champions for a while.