France vs Iceland Report
France 3-2 Iceland: Ribery & Rami seal dramatic turnaround for Les Bleus
Laurent Blanc’s men trailed deep into the match, but the
introduction of Olivier Giroud inspired them to a win in their first
Euro 2012 warm-up game
France preserved their lengthy undefeated
sequence as they fought back from two goals down to earn a 3-2 victory
against Iceland in Valenciennes.
The visitors had looked set to
be unlikely winners of the match as they Kolbeinn Sigthorsson and Birkir
Bjarnason before the interval, but Mathieu Debuchy triggered the hosts’
comeback. Laurent Blanc’s men left things late, though, with Franck
Ribery and Adil Rami both finding the target in the last six minutes.
France fed off the atmosphere in the opening
stages of the game and fuelled the crowd with some enterprising early
play, particularly from wingers Hatem Ben Arfa and Jeremy Menez, who was
fouled right on the edge of the box.
They lacked real danger to
their attacks, and against the run of play the hungry visitors would
punish them severely. Lacklustre defending from Philippe Mexes saw him
out jumped by Sigthorsson, whose header picked out Bjarnason. The winger
had wandered too easily away from Patrice Evra and finished well from a
difficult angle.
Sigthorsson would add a second only five
minutes later, tapping in easily from close range as Rurik Gislason
escaped the attentions of the sleeping Evra down the visitors’ right
flank.
During the first period, France served largely to
disappoint, despite mustering a trio of significant penalty appeals that
were all ignored. There were signs before the break, though, that their
forwards were starting to gel, but Karim Benzema skewed their best
opening wide after good work from Ben Arfa.
Immediately after the
break the Newcastle player was involved in the thick of the action, but
after a clever chest from Benzema, he was sufficiently distracted by
the packed defence to shoot wide from a good position.
There was
now more energy about France, and within minutes they had drawn
themselves back into the match through the unlikely source of right-back
Debuchy, whose willingness to attack was finally recompensed when a
ball broke kindly to the hosts in the box, allowing him to easily slot
home.
What followed was very nearly a tale of frustration for the
hosts as their opponents defended stoutly, blocking countless shots
from the edge of the box and preventing the visitors getting a clear
sight of goal. Substitute Mathieu Valbuena perhaps had France’s best
opening, but after clever work to create space, he shot just wide.
Indeed,
Iceland might well have added to their tally on the break, but Steve
Mandanda saved from Bjarnason as the home defence was again nowhere to
be seen.
They would live to regret this miss as France launched
their salvage mission with the introduction of Olivier Giroud, whose
deft pass to Ribery set up the Bayern Munich star for a lofted finish.
Moments later, the Montpellier forward helped secure the turnaround with
a wonderful header to Rami, whose first-time finish won the game.
Although
France toiled for much of this match, Blanc can be pleased with the
character of his team, who go into Friday’s friendly against Serbia on a
19-match unbeaten run.
Source : Goal.com
