Defying the bitterly low expectations of a populace that had largely written them off as prima donnas, the French national soccer team defeated Ukraine, 3-0, on Tuesday night and secured a place at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, reports The New York Times.
First-half goals by Mamadou Sakho and Karim Benzema and a fortunate bounce off a Ukraine defender for an own goal in the second half completed a comeback that had seemed impossible to many.
Ukraine had upset France, 2-0, in the first leg of their home-and-home playoff, a defeat that seemed to augur France’s elimination and a potential new low for a team that has inspired more resentment than love in recent years. France’s team has not yet shaken off the ignominy of its early exit from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, where it failed to win a game and endured a player revolt that, at one point, led the team to refuse to practice.
The debacle led to the resignation of the coach and the reorganization of the federation under a new president. Still, commentators across the country had projected the worst for Les Bleus on Tuesday, noting that the team, whose roster features European stars like Real Madrid’s Benzema and Bayern Munich’s Franck Ribéry, had consistently underperformed. Comparisons were drawn between the seemingly doomed state of the team and the depressive state of the French economy.
“It’s true that watching Les Bleus Friday at Kiev, one said to oneself that this French team was a bit in the image of our country: sick,” wrote Yves Thréard, a top editor at the national daily Le Figaro, in a front-page editorial.
Instead, the team and the nation breathed sighs of relief at the final whistle inside the Stade de France.
“It’s the magic of football,” Coach Didier Deschamps told The Associated Press. “Four days ago we were bad, very bad. I’ve experienced some great moments, but this one is special.”
But claiming a berth in the World Cup, the players and their fans know, is just the first step.
Since the embarrassment in South Africa, French players have been criticized as egotists unwilling to play as a team.
“The French are better players, but Ukraine is a better team,” said Vincent Duluc, a senior soccer reporter at L’Équipe, France’s leading sporting newspaper. The French lack “a collective spirit” and are widely viewed as “reflecting the individualism of modern times,” he said.
To qualify, Duluc said before the match, would require some chance element of the “irrational.”
That surprise element may have come with an own goal by Ukraine’s Oleg Gusev in the 72nd minute, off a cross intended for Sakho in a crowded penalty area. (Sakho celebrated the goal as his own.) Or it may have come in the 47th minute, with the red card given to Ukraine’s Yevhen Khacheridi, which meant the visitors had to play with a man down for nearly the entire second half.
By that time, the French had tied the playoff on aggregate — on Sakho’s goal on a rebound in the 22nd minute and Benzema’s similar goal in the 33rd, though replays showed he was offside — and the team maintained a punishingly aggressive pace.
“From the starting whistle, we’ll have to show what we’re capable of, play at our best level,” the French captain Hugo Lloris had told reporters Monday.
“We’re conscious of the situation,” Lloris added, in a reference to the low expectations for the team. “We believe. There’s hope.”
Read more of this report from The New York Times.