France were looking forward to join 2016 European champions Portugal as the only teams to have a flawless Euro Qualifiers for the 2024 tournament at Germany, but their performance against at OPAP Arena – Agia Sofia Stadium last night meant they have won all but one match in the qualifying round. The 2022 FIFA World Cup runners-up, led by their captain Kylian Mbappé, were denied their flawless Euro Qualifiers after being held to a 2-2 frustrated draw on Matchday 8, finishing the campaign and advancing to the next round with seven wins and one draw in the qualifying round.
Greece Fought Back to Score Twice After France’s Opener
With head coach Didier Deschamps’s strong statement during the post-match conference of France’s 14-0 win over Gibraltar, everyone was expecting Les Bleus to go all out in achieving a flawless Euro Qualifiers with a win against Greece on the final Matchday. Indeed, France fielded a strong lineup against the Greeks at OPAP Arena – Agia Sofia Stadium last night.
In hopes of attaining a flawless Euro Qualifiers, Les Bleus took the first lead of the match moments before the added time was given during the first half. A repelled corner set piece by the home team was soon recovered by France, allowing midfielder Youssouf Fofana to push all the way forward and send the ball towards Olivier Giroud. The all-time leading goal scorer of the French national team then set up Randal Kolo Muani to draw first blood from an impossible angle at the right flank.
Just when things were going all right for France on the journey to reach a flawless Euro Qualifiers, 2004 European champions Greece scored twice in less than 300 seconds around the hour mark, first through Anastasios Bakasetas and another via Fotis Ioannidis; The former netted a stunning volley just before the penalty box, whereas the latter found the back of the net from close range.
In Other News: North Macedonia 1-1 England: The Three Lions Complete 2024 UEFA Euro Qualifiers with an Unbeaten Record with Six Wins and Two Draws
GRÈCE 🇬🇷 1-1 🇫🇷 FRANCE
⚽️ Bakasetas égalise !#CôtéFoot
— OnaTousunCôtéFoot ⚽️ (@tousuncotefoot) November 21, 2023
Fofana Secured a Point for Les Bleus
With the home team 2-1 up at this point, France went from trying to accomplish a flawless Euro Qualifiers to needing to prevent themselves from an embarrassing first loss in the qualifying round, and fortunately to them, Fofana came to the rescue in the 74th minute. Mbappé received the ball from the left flank, but the heavily guarded French skipper had no space to delivery a cross, so he decided to set up Fofana in the middle zone. The 24-year-old AS Monaco midfielder controlled the ball, followed by a thunderous strike that beat past Odysseas Vlachodimos for the equaliser.
Both teams failed to find the winner in the rest of the game, meaning the already-qualified Les Bleus did not manage to advance to the next round with a flawless Euro Qualifiers and have dropped points for the first time in the entire qualifying round.
The 55-year-old head coach of the French national team Deschamps was unhappy with the lack of goal-line technology that costed them the final victory in achieving a flawless Euro Qualifiers. He said: “This is the international level. There was no qualification at stake obviously but there could have been. To have a ground with no goal-line technology — because there isn’t, because it’s expensive — obviously it is incoherent, but the officials have to put up with it.”
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Portugal the Only Team with Flawless Euro Qualifiers
Since France have failed to win all eight matches of Group B, Portugal are now the only team to have a flawless Euro Qualifiers, winning ten matches, scoring 36 goals and conceding only twice as a total. Cristiano Ronaldo’s Os Navegadores won against Slovakia, Luxembourg, Iceland, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Liechtenstein twice each during the process, and all the details are written in this article. Feel free to give it a thorough read now.
All 20 Automatic Qualification Spots of the 2024 UEFA Euro Qualifiers Confirmed
Apart from France and Portugal, 18 other teams also made it into the UEFA Euro 2024 Finals are Spain, Scotland, Netherlands, England, Italy, Türkiye, Croatia, Albania, Czech Republic, Belgium, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Denmark, Slovenia, Romania, Switzerland and Slovakia. These 20 nations will join hosts Germany for the 17th edition of the UEFA European Championship next summer, with the remaining three spots to be filled by teams who emerge victorious in the playoffs in the near future.
Catch these playoff matches and the UEFA Euro 2024 Finals via AsiaSport.com, the only name you need to know when it comes to the best livestream channels in the world of internet.
