Group H Euro 2020 qualifying rounds play resumed yesterday, and l'équipe de France were in Tirana to take on the home team, the Albanian national team.
French central midfielder Corentin Tolisso got France off to a quick start with a goal in the 8th minute, to give Les Bleus the 1-0 lead.
French superstar forward Antoine Griezmann was able to add to the lead with another goal in the 31st minute to give France the 2-0 margin that also wound up being the final score.
With the win, France clinched Group H with 25 points in 10 games played thus far in Group H, and they were ahead of Turkey by two points, although they also have scored 25 goals to this point, compared with just 18 for Turkey.
France will be in the Euro 2020 tournament.
This was the most convincing and reassuring performance by Les Bleus in a while, after needing questionable penalties against Iceland and Moldova, and failing to beat Turkey at the Stade de France. France should remain a serious contender at next year's Euro. As for Iceland, I believe they can still qualify, since there will be a playoff between third-place teams that finished with the most points. It would be great if they could qualify for their third consecutive major tournament, though it's going to be hard, particularly when you consider the fact that whoever they face is not likely to underestimate them in light of their recent rise to relevance.
ReplyDeleteWell, at least they qualified for Euro 2020. Would have been very embarrassing, and the wrong message to send to the soccer world, if they had failed to do that much. And they traditionally have had embarrassing showings after major championships, as you well remember. They won the World Cup in 1998 and then Euro 2000, only to have the worst title defense in history in 2002. Then, after reaching the final and almost winning it all in 2006, they were literally the laughing stock of the soccer/football world in 2010. So, I am pleased that they at least qualified, and let's see how they do once the tournament begins. Do they still automatically qualify for the World Cup still these days, as defending champions, or did they get rid of that?
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