France v Ukraine: live
“I didn’t have doubts but we played a huge match and this qualification is
very important for French football. It’s a bit of a tradition that when
French teams have their backs against the wall they perform and we had a lot
of heart and determination. Now we’ve qualified, we’re capable of some great
things.”
It was Ukraine’s fourth failed attempt at qualifying for the finals via the
play-offs after also missing out in 1998, 2002 and 2010.
Deschamps made five changes to his side with Raphaël Varane and Sakho
replacing the out-of-form Eric Abidal in central defence. Benzema returned
to lead the attack in place of Giroud, Yohan Cabaye replaced Samir Nasri and
Mathieu Valbuena stepped in for Loïc Rémy on the right flank.
Ukraine coach Mykhaylo Fomenko was missing Oleksandr Kucher and Artem Fedetsky
through suspension, so Shakhtar Donetsk’s Yaroslav Rakytsky and Dnipro
Dnipropetrovsk’s Vitaliy Mandziuk came in.
Andriy Piatov, the Ukraine goalkeeper, had kept clean sheets in his eight
previous games but soon knew he was in for a busy night.
France went close in the third minute. Benzema’s cross from the right somehow
eluded everyone in the penalty box before falling to Valbuena on the left of
the area, and his stinging shot forced Piatov into a fingertip save.
The French were clearly fired up, their pride deeply stung from the first
match, and Patrice Evra squared up to Ruslan Rotan after he was booked for
hacking down Ribéry.
France attacked relentlessly in the first 10 minutes, and Paul Pogba cursed
himself after heading over from Valbuena’s corner and then Benzema did the
same from another Valbuena delivery.
Some of the tackles were ferocious, as France clearly wanted to show they
could stand up to the physical challenge after their battering in Kyiv.
Ukraine’s first attack came in the 17th minute, when Andriy Yarmolenko
skipped past Evra with ease and his resulting cross was cleared for a corner.
The breakthrough came following another dangerous Valbuena free-kick. The ball
landed with Ribéry on the edge of the area and his firmly-hit shot forced
Piatov to dive low to his right. The ball span away from him as he tried to
grasp it back again, and Sakho was on hand to bury the rebound, prompting
delirious scenes as Sakho ran towards the bench slapping his chest with
bursting pride.
France had the ball in the net again in the 30th minute as Benzema stooped to
knee the ball over the line from Ribéry’s cross but the goal was ruled out
for offside, although replays showed he was clearly onside. Although that
does not make up for Thierry Henry’s handball four years ago for France’s
winning goal against Ireland, it gave the French even extra motivation.
A wonderfully intricate three-man move between Ribéry, Pogba and Valbuena
ended with Valbuena forcing Piatov into an excellent save high to his right.
However, Ukraine then fell further behind. Piatov was well beaten when
Cabaye’s attempted shot deflected kindly into the path of Benzema and he
stroked it into the bottom corner for his third international goal in the
last four games – that after a run of 15 without a goal for his country.
Sakho came to the rescue on the stroke of half-time when he stretched his leg
high to poke the ball away from Roman Zozulya as he was about to shoot and
from the resulting corner, Yarmolenko’s goal-bound hit Mathieu Debuchy’s
chest.
Sensing Ukraine could crack, France pushed hard for the third goal. Midfielder
Blaise Matuidi scuffed wide and Benzema miscued a shot over the bar after
both had been set up by Ribery.
But France were always at the mercy of a Ukraine goal, and with 20 minutes
remaining, Hugo Lloris reacted swiftly to pounce on a loose ball before it
fell to the lurking Zozulya.
Substitute Olivier Giroud then almost made it four in the closing stages but
his header was well saved by Piatov.
Match details
France (4-3-3): Lloris; Debuchy (Sagna 78), Varane, Sakho, Evra; Pogba,
Cabaye, Matuidi; Valbuena, Ribery, Benzema (Giroud 82).
Subs Mandanda (g), Landreau (g), Nasri, Clichy, Grenier, Payet,
Sissoko, Remy, Mavuba, Abidal. Booked Sakho, Evra, Debuchy.
Ukraine (4-2-3-1): Pyatov; Mandziuk, Khacheridi, Rakistkiy, Shevchuk;
Rotan, Bezus (Gusev 64); Yarmolenko, Edmar, Konoplyanka; Zozulya (Seleznyov
76).
Subs Khudzhamov (g), Devic, Sydorchuk, Tymoschuk, Moroziuk, Dedechko,
Stepanenko, Fedorchuk, Khomchesnovsky.
Booked Rotan, Khacheridi, Mandziuk.
Sent off Khacheridi.
Referee D Skomina (Slovakia).