World 2022: France stumbles on Ukraine for its debut in the qualifiers
Kylian Mbappe caught in the Ukrainian stranglehold.
March 24, 2021. REUTERS - CHRISTIAN HARTMANN
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
An uninspired French team was held in check at the Stade de France (1-1) by Ukraine on Wednesday March 24.
This is not the expected start for the Blues in this first day of qualifying for the 2022 World Cup.
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Of course, there is still a long way to go to reach Qatar in November 2022 for the World Cup, but the French team hoped for better for this first step.
However, the reigning French world champions quickly gained the upper hand over Ukraine thanks to the 34th goal in blue from Barcelona's Antoine Griezmann (19th), with a curled shot from the left.
Despite a clear domination, the players of Didier Deschamps then came up against a feverish but very dense Ukrainian defense with five elements.
Andrei Shevchenko's players, who lost 7-1 on the
same pitch last October
, put on a different face.
The Yellow have thus managed to equalize on one of their rare occasions on a shot from Sydorchuk deflected by Presnel Kimpembe (57th).
Despite the entries of Pogba, Dembélé and Martial in place of Kylian Mbappe disappointing, Didier Deschamps' men will not be able to come back in front.
Qualifications continue in the coming days and France will continue with two distant trips on March 28 in Kazakhstan and March 31 in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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World Cup 2022
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