France leads the World Cup qualifying group with one point ahead of Finland, who have one match more played. With victory in tonight’s clash with Kazakhstan, the French are ready for the playoffs in Qatar.
Then Didier Deschamps chooses to line up with an offensive eleven, with the trio Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappé and Karim Benzema at the top.
And it paid off early for France. After just six minutes, Theo Hernandez played until Kylian Mbappé who spliced the ball between the goalkeeper and the left post. It was the young Frenchman’s first goal of the match.
The second came in the twelfth minute to 2-0. Pokatilov in Kazakhstan’s goal made a mistake. He went out of his way to grab the ball in front of Kingsley Coman’s feet but fell. Then Coman could record the ball to Mbappé who put it in the open box.
After half an hour, the 22-year-old had completed his hat trick, when after a well-placed post from Coman he gets the ball in with a distinct nod. It is his first hat trick for France.
The overrun continued in the second half, but then a new goal scorer stepped into the picture. Theo Hernandez slpg a pass diagonally back to Karim Benzema, who only needed to support the ball to 4-0. Four minutes later he also scored a second goal, where Mbappé unselfishly played until his teammate to the match’s fifth goal.
After just over an hour, Kazakhstan was millimeters from offering another goal, from their own player. But the goal camera stated that the goalkeeper managed to save it just before the whole ball was over the line.
Here are the team’s starting eleven:
France: Lloris – Kounde, Upamecano, L. Hernandez – Comen, Kanté, Raboit, T. Hernandez – Griezmann – Benzema, Mbappé
Kazakstan: Pokatilov – Bystrov, Yerlanov, Marochkin, Alip, Taikenov – Zharynbetov, Kuat, Tapalov – Omiratayev, Aimbetov
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