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Giroud, who had not been called up since his country were
knocked out in the last 16 of the European Championship last
year, cancelled out Nicolas Pepe's opener to move four goals shy
of Thierry Henry's France all-time scoring record before Aurelie
Tchouameni wrapped up the win in stoppage time.
The AC Milan forward, who rarely disappointed coach Didier
Deschamps despite limited playing time when he was at Chelsea,
was included in the squad following Karim Benzema's injury.
He started alongside Christopher Nkunku as Kylian Mbappe sat on
the bench after suffering from an ear, nose and throat infection
earlier this week.
France next take on South Africa in Lille on Tuesday.
They got off to a shaky start but once they found their groove
threatened more than their opponents as Paul Pogba and
Tchouameni bossed the midfield at a packed Stade Velodrome.
Pepe burst into the area and fired a low cross-shot from the
near post that beat goalkeeper Hugo Lloris after 19 minutes as
the French defence was caught napping.
It took France three minutes to react with Giroud heading home
from his club mate Theo Hernandez for the equaliser.
Les Bleus continued to push and Nkunku came close in the opening
half but his header went just too high.
They were however rewarded three minutes into added time when
Tchouameni headed his first goal from eight appearances off
Matteo Guendouzi's corner.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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