Lucky France seal Euro 2012 berth after a nervy draw against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Bosnia-and-Herzegovina-c2856 – Les Bleus news
Laurent Blanc’s France sealed their place in next year’s European Championships in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ukraine-c3032 and Poland following a nervy 1-1 draw against a tough Bosnian side at the Stade de France in the two sides’ last game of the Euro 2012 qualifiers.
Edin Dzeko put the visitors in front in the first half but http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Poland-c2983.
Ahead of the game, France were leading the Group D standings with 20 points with the Bosnians trailing them by a solitary point. A draw was necessary for France to seal automatic qualification while Bosnia needed to win to qualify for the tournament for
the first time in their history.
Laurent Blanc’s men headed into the game on the back of a 14-game unbeaten run which included a 3-0 win over http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Albania-c2834 last Friday. Bosnia were also in a rich vein of form after winning five consecutive qualification games.
Since gaining independence from Yugoslavia in 1992, the Bosnian football team has never qualified for a major football event and there is a feeling that the current Bosnian squad is probably the best chance the nation has for qualification.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Patrice-Evra-c29231 marshalled the left flank.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Bacary-Sagna-c7148.
France looked nervous early on in the game and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Senad-Lulic-c32887 nearly gave Safet Susic’s men before Loic Remy was denied at the other end. However, the statistics turned out to be a grim reading for the Les Bleus faithful as Bosnians registered seven shots on
target in the first quarter of the game.
Blanc had stated before the game that his side would not go for a draw and true to his word, the French players played an attacking game. However, the strategy was not that effective as it left many gaps in the midfield which gave Bosnia a chance to take
a stranglehold of the proceedings.
Five minutes before halftime, the Bosnian fans were rewarded for aptly playing their role as the 12th man when an excellent free-kick was even more expertly controlled by Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko whose back was towards the goal. The
former Wolfsburg man turned quickly and shot a powerful shot beyond goalkeeper http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Hugo-Lloris-c16408.
The lead was well deserved as the first half ended and was certainly one of the poorest first-half performance displayed by the French team during the reign of Laurent Blanc.
The second half started in similar fashion as Bosnia once again ran the show in the first quarter of the second period. However, the French team seemed to come to terms with the Bosnian dominance and slowly started getting back into the game.
Jeremy Menez, who was all over the place in the first half, seemed rejuvenated and created several opportunities. France’s patient build-up play paid dividends when Samir Nasri was fouled in the box by Bosnia captain http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Emir-Spahic-c12523 who clumsily stuck his foot
between Nasri’s legs.
The young winger converted the penalty to level the score at 1-1.
France could have won the game had http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Kevin-Gameiro-c20721 been more alert in the box after he barely missed a low driven shot by Remy.
The home side held on to the scoreline as Bosnians were unable to find the goal that would send them through.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/France-c2899 are now guaranteed a berth in the European Championships and Laurent Blanc would now be thinking about guiding Les Bleus to their third European crown. Meanwhile, Bosnians would be hoping to qualify for the tournament for the first time via playoffs.
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