Belarus held France on Friday night at the Dynamo stadium but the French remain first in the group D, sitting four points above the second-placed side. Malouda rescued Laurent Blanc’s from a potential disaster, scoring a leveler which keep France’s qualifying chances alive. Belarus opened the score early in the first half, but were leveled just a couple of minutes later. Abidal scored an own goal which could have cost the visitors three precious points, while Chelsea winger Malouda helped Blanc to take a deep breath. Unfortunately, France were unable to come from behind and leave with a victory, but they still have time to improve, taking into account they will stay the next game.
Foto Source: soccer-magazine.com
Belarus had the first big chance of the meeting though through Shitov who beat his mark but failed to beat keeper Lloris, too in the 15th minutes. The hosts did manage to open the score three minutes later. A poor defending from Rami and Abidal allowed Bernd Stange’s side to put a lot of pressure inside the French box and thus force the Barcelona player deflect the ball into the own net to the dismay of Laurent Blanc. France broke back immediately through Malouda who made it 1-1 in the 20th minute. Benzema and Sagna developed a tremendous action the finish of which was easily accomplished by the winger who beat Veremko from close range.
France could have even taken the lead, but neither Benzema, nor Nasri was able to convert two dangerous shots in the 30th minute. The first half went 1-1, while the second one brought just a yellow card for the home side, picked by keeper Veremko for time wasting. Kalachev had also been booked in the first half for a tough challenge. On the other side, Sagna and Rami were the only French to get booked for sins. Stange made two late changes, introducing Kislyak and Hleb for Putsila and Kalachev, while Blanc used just one substitution. The French coach replaced midfielder Diaby with Remy in the 74th minute, while Ribery was kept on the pitch throughout the entire 90 minutes.
France stay top with 13 points won in six games, the draw against Belarus favouring Romania who beat Bosnia 3-0 on Friday to go one point behind Belarus. Belarus sit second with nine points, while Albania are third with the same number of points as Romania. Bosnia dropped fifth with seven points, but have one game in hand, while Luxembourg lie foot of the table with one point won in six games. Belarus meet Luxembourg next Tuesday while Albania visit Bosnia the same day.
Belarus – Veremko; Trubila, Verkhovtsov, Martynovich, Shitov, Tigorev, Omeyanchuk, Kalachev, Bordachov, Voronkov. Reserves: A. Bychenok, Y. Zhevnov, M. Zhavnerchik, V. Hleb, P. Sitko, S. Kislyak.
France – Lloris; Sagna, Rami, Sakho, Abidal; Diarra, Diaby; Ribery, Nasri, Malouda, Benzema. Reserves: Y. M’Vila, Y. Cabaye, Y. Kaboul, P. Evra, S. Mandanda, K. Gameiro, L. Remy.
