France handles difficult Ukraine in first World Cup Qualifying match

The World Cup runners-up begin their campaign with a win in their group

Inowrocław, POL- The first World Cup Qualifier in Group D began as Ukraine continues to play home matches outside of their homeland, with the continued war against Russia. They took on the World Cup finalists in France after being dethroned by Argentina at the Qatar World Cup. Les Blues had a strong start and a solid end as they defeated Ukraine by a final score of two goals to nil

Calculating goal puts the French ahead

It took the opening ten minutes for France to grab the early lead. As they attacked down the far side, the long ball came toward Bradley Barcola. He took the ball and worked the defender toward the outside of the Ukraine area. When he saw Michael Olise make a move toward the top of the area, Barcola made a nice pass to give Olise the ball, and he quickly took the shot and beat Anatoliy Trubin inside the near post.

M’Bappe ends the match in style

As France was defending their side of the pitch, they were also looking to make a quick break to get out of trouble. That’s what happened when the ball was at the far side, Aurelien Tchouameni struck a long ball that was cleared, but doubled as a long cross toward Kylian M’Bappe. That sprung him into an attacking run, juked the defender going toward his right, and smashed the inside of the far post in the 82nd minute.

Strong Defense puts a stop to Ukraine

No matter how much Ukraine tried to score, they just couldn’t get back the defense and goalkeeping of France. Mike Maignan was strong in net, and his defenders made the stops necessary. But overall, the team played strong defense and made sure Ukraine couldn’t get on the board. While this is the first match of the group stage, there are still plenty of matches left to be played.

UEFA World Cup Qualifying News:

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