Ousmane Dembele scored the opening purpose as holders France beat Kazakhstan 2-0 away on Sunday to assert the primary victory of their marketing campaign to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Sergei Maliy put via his personal internet for France’s second purpose earlier than half-time however Kylian Mbappe had a second-half penalty saved after coming off the bench. It was a welcome end result for the reigning world champions after they kicked off their marketing campaign in qualifying Group D by drawing 1-1 at dwelling to Ukraine final Wednesday.
“We said beforehand that it was all about getting the job done and it’s a positive result against a team who never gave up,” Paul Pogba, who returned to the beginning line-up, instructed broadcaster TF1.
“People might have thought Kazakhstan would let us score five goals but no, they played well. We had chances to score more goals but their goalkeeper played well. We got the result and we can be happy.”
Didier Deschamps’ aspect now cease off in Sarajevo for an additional match in opposition to Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday to finish a busy begin to qualifying earlier than reverting their focus to the delayed Euro 2020 in June.
In an try and maintain his squad contemporary, Deschamps made 9 adjustments to his line-up following the Ukraine draw for the match in Nur-Sultan, greater than 5,000 kilometres east of Paris in Central Asia.
Antoine Griezmann, who scored France’s purpose in opposition to Ukraine, was the one outfield participant to maintain his place within the aspect, whereas Hugo Lloris once more began in purpose as he received his 122nd cap.
Griezmann’s Barcelona teammate Dembele was a type of introduced into the workforce as he began for France in a aggressive recreation for the primary time because the triumphant 2018 World Cup marketing campaign in Russia.
It was Dembele who received the breakthrough within the twentieth minute, controlling on the sting of the field and scoring with a low drive into the nook of the web after good work by Anthony Martial to set him up.
“He’s always had the technical ability and he scored a great goal,” Deschamps stated of Dembele.
“There are always things he can do better. He can still be more decisive, but when he plays like he did today he is good to watch.”
France scored their second purpose a minute earlier than half-time when defender Maliy headed a Griezmann nook into his personal internet as he tried to carry off Pogba.
That successfully ended any doubt in regards to the end result of the competition with Kazakhstan, ranked 122nd on the planet and who did not win a single recreation in 2018 World Cup qualifying, struggling to create any probabilities on the different finish.
Manchester United ahead Martial took a knock and was finally changed simply earlier than the hour mark by Mbappe, who had a number of probabilities so as to add to France’s lead.
The greatest alternative for the Paris Saint-Germain star got here from the spot within the seventy fifth minute after he had been introduced down by Nuraly Alip.
However, Mbappe’s kick was turned across the submit by dwelling goalkeeper Aleksandr Mokin.
