A gut-wrenching 2-1 defeat to France in their Group C opener has left the Socceroos targeting a win on Thursday as they seek to qualify from the group stages.

Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Eriksen, who scored 11 of Denmark's goals in qualifying, is the key threat for Age Hareide's side at the Samara Arena.

But Jedinak, who scored from the penalty spot against France, says improving on a disciplined performance - which saw Antoine Griezmann hit a VAR-assisted penalty before an Aziz Behich own goal in the dying minutes - is also key for Australia.

Aziz Behich’s late own goal, coming after Paul Pogba’s shot deflected off his shin, was the difference between the teams following successful penalty conversions by Antoine Griezmann and Mile Jedinak for their respective sides looked set to see the points shared.

Bert van Marwijk’s side went toe-to-toe with the Euro 2016 finalists in their clash in Kazan and their showing throughout the 90 minutes has left Sainsbury and his teammates looking forward to their match with the Danes.

Bert van Marwijk's team are playing catch-up in Group C after defeat against France and a win for the Danes against Peru.

The 19-year-old Arzani made his World Cup debut on Saturday when he came off the bench late in the 2-1 loss to France in Kazan.

Australia's performance in that game helped change perceptions that the Socceroos are simply a physical side lacking technical talent and attacking ambition, said defender Trent Sainsbury.

Jedinak, who scored Australia’s goal from the penalty spot, was picked in midfield alongside Aaron Mooy and the duo produced a stellar defensive display together with the centre-back pairing of Trent Sainsbury and Mark Milligan.

But despite limiting France’s chances and frustrating one of the favourites for the title in Russia 2018, Australia fell to an 81st minute Paul Pogba effort which deflected off  Aziz Behich into the goalmouth.

Jedinak, who had come off a gruelling club season with Aston Villa who he so nearly helped win promotion to the English Premier League, reiterated the message he shared with teammates during a post-game huddle on the pitch.

The Socceroos matched the highly-fancied French for long periods in Kazan but went down 2-1 to an Antoine Griezmann penalty and an 81st-minute deflected strike by Paul Pogba, either side of Mile Jedinak's goal.

“There’s still mixed emotions. We’re Obviously disappointed because I think we deserved more,” Behich said.

“The performance we put in was different class against a tough opponent. I thought we deserved more but there was a lot of positives to take from this game.

“We should be proud of what we put in. We’ve still got two games to build on this performance. Our focus has already switched to the next game.”

Several weeks of preparations were over, and it was time for Bert van Marwijk's Australia side to demonstrate their worth as they opened their 2018 FIFA World Cup campaign against France. A resilient defensive display was on show but two second-half strikes were enough for Les Blues to walk away with the three points.

Having scored three goals in as many matches in their last FIFA World Cup, the Socceroos opened their account courtesy of a Mile Jedinak penalty kick, but more attacking impetus will be required if they are to advance to the next round.

Antoine Griezmann scored from the first VAR-assisted penalty awarded in the history of the FIFA World Cup as title hopefuls France battled to a 2-1 win in Kazan.

Griezmann, expected to make a huge impact on Russia 2018 after topping the Euro 2016 scorers with six goals, was left frustrated by a solid Socceroos defensive display in a tight first half.