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Former Socceroos midfielder Robbie Kruse sees the 2018 World Cup match against France as one that came down to small moments, something he sees as a defining feature of how important fixtures transpire in world football.
Australia turned in arguably their greatest performance of the 2018 tournament in their very first match of the group, frustrating France for much of the 90 minutes with a defensive strategy brought in by then-coach Bert van Marwijk.
Les Bleus triumphed 2-1 in the end, but only thanks to an unlucky deflected goal as they went on to beat Croatia 4-2 in the final while the Socceroos exited in the group stage after a draw with Denmark and another loss to Croatia.
Kruse played 75 matches for the Socceroos throughout an eight-year international career, and missing out on the opportunity to go to a World Cup in 2014 due to injury made the walk-out and atmosphere of the first match of the 2018 tournament against the eventual champions all the more special.
"I just remember the anthem and lining up when the anthem was on," Kruse told SBS Sport's David Basheer.
"And obviously looking at who you're competing against on the other side, it was a really surreal moment for me having missed that 2014 World Cup with injury."
In what was a tense and tight encounter between the two nations, the result ultimately came down to brief moments that had huge impacts, with penalties on either side leading to goals before Paul Pogba won it for France with a late deflected strike that sailed over Mat Ryan, going down as technically an own goal for Aziz Behich.
"These big games in tournament football, a lot of them are defined in small moments and small details," Kruse said.
"The penalty we conceded where Josh Risdon made the tackle, it was probably a 50/50 call but obviously went their way. Then we got a penalty of our own with the handball which made it 1-1.
"In the second half, obviously we were under the pump. We didn't concede too many chances, but we didn't have a lot of the ball which is to be expected against a team of that calibre.
"Then conceding that deflected goal from Pogba around the 80th minute was deflating, considering we were 10 minutes away from getting a really hard-earned point which would have changed the complexity of the group for us."
The fact those moments could have swung in Australia's favour on that day in Kazan means van Marwijk's defensive strategy paid off for the most part against France, with Kruse suggesting Graham Arnold might utilise the same tactics of his predecessor.
"For the team going to Qatar playing the defending champions first, I don't think defending champions have the best record in their first game," Kruse mused.
"I think we can really do a job there. I'm assuming they [Australia] might go in with the same kind of 'limit the damage' and try to get away with a point in that first game."
But against a team like France as Kruse has experienced before, soaking up pressure means you have to be perfect as one mistake can become the moment that costs you a result.
"When you're in that defensive structure, you can't have a lapse in concentration for a split moment because these types of players just punish you. If you switch off and that calibre of player gets through, inevitably they score the chances they get."
