Jason Cummings and Olivier Giroud have reached a Christmas truce after the Frenchman brutally snubbed the Cumdog’s request for his France shirt.
Australia took on Les Bleus in their first group stage game in Qatar, which saw the former Hibs and Rangers striker come on as a second half sub for the Socceroos during their 4-1 defeat. Giroud bagged a brace in the win as the former holders kicked off a run of results that would take them all the way to the final, where they lost to Argentina in heartbreaking fashion on penalties.
Keen for a memento of his World Cup debut, Cummings approached former Arsenal and Chelsea star Giroud - now his country’s all-time leading scorer - in the tunnel after the game and asked if he wanted to swap shirts. But he received the big custard pie from the Frenchman, who Cummings later said pretended he couldn’t speak English despite playing there for a decade.
But things took a twist when Giroud responded with a photo of Jackson Irvine's shirt, gleaned after playing Graham Arnold’s team. And he jokingly asked the ex-Celtic man how his English was in what seemed like a tongue-in-cheek dig at Cummings.
But this being the season of goodwill, Giroud has reached out to Cummings. And he’s sending an AC Milan shirt his way to make up for not landing a France one out in Qatar.
“It got twisted a wee bit, saying that Giroud told me he doesn’t speak English,” Cummings told the Mowers Club podcast. “That wasn't the case - he probably didn’t understand me because I speak Scottish! I sometimes speak gibberish so he just didn’t understand me.
“There was a misunderstanding but it’s all resolved now. I actually woke up to a message yesterday from the main man himself, Ollie G, Olivier Giroud.
“He sent me a DM on Instagram and it turns out he's a great bloke! He’s offered to send me an AC Milan jersey and apologised for the misunderstanding. That’s nice and shows that he’s actually a good bloke.
“I said to him that I’m going to send him back a Mariners jersey in return. It turns out that we're actually best mates now so I got the last laugh.”
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