Lviv (Ukraine) (AFP)
Ukraine failed to do better than a draw at home against Bosnia and Herzegovina (1-1) on Tuesday in Lviv on the 8th day of qualifying for the 2022 World Cup and remains second in Group D behind the France.
This result puts France in a comfortable situation before the last two days, since the Ukrainians, who now have 9 points and one more game, are three lengths behind the Blues, still first in the group with 12 units.
The France team, which was exempt this week from qualifying for the final phase of the League of Nations, will host Kazakhstan on November 13 and then travel to Finland on November 16.
A victory in one of these two matches will be enough for Didier Deschamps' men to qualify for Qatar.
Well served and alone against the goalkeeper, West Ham striker Andriy Yarmolenko was the first to open the scoring in the 15th minute for Ukraine at Arena-Lviv.
In the 77th of this balanced match, the Bosnians came back to equality thanks to a superb strike from Anel Ahmedhodzic (Malmö FF) in the left corner of the Ukrainian goal, forcing the two teams to share the points of the draw.
A little earlier, Finland, victorious (2-0) in Kazakhstan with a brace from Teemu Pukki, remained in the race for qualification.
With two matches to go, the Finns (8 points) can still mathematically threaten the first place of the Blues, just like Ukraine, while Bosnia and Herzegovina remains 4th with 7 points.
On the other hand, last with 3 points, the Kazakhs are eliminated.
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