France has defeated Finland by 1-0 in a world cup qualifier match at Helsinki. The French team didn’t look in full flow and missed quite a few opportunities in the match, but, even after that, the team managed to sneak a victory. Had the French players not missed the opportunities, the margin of victory could have been much bigger.
A large number of Finland fans were out there in the stadium to watch their team win the match, but, their team didn’t manage to fulfil their wish. The midfielder, Abou Diaby, scored the only goal for the French team. The new coach of the French team, Didier Deschamps, would have been quite relieved with this victory.
Diaby was playing for France after 14 months, and told Arsenal news that he was happy to be back.
He struggled a lot with injury in the last 1 year. He wasn’t able to play in the Euro Cup 2012 due to the injury. He took his team ahead in the match by scoring a stunning goal in the 20th minute. Karim Benzema set up the goal for Diaby. He made his way through the midfield and gave pass to Diaby who beat two Finland defenders and smashed a well placed shot to put the ball into the goal post.
The French team could have doubled its lead in the first half, but, Benzema’s shot was brilliantly saved by the Finnish goalkeeper Lukas Hradecki. In the second half, the Finnish team played with attacking attitude and created some chances, however, the inexperienced Finnish players didn’t manage to give the finishing touch even a single time and the French team maintained its lead throughout the match.
After the match, Diaby said that he is very happy to perform well at the top level again. The last few months were very tough for him. It was frustrating not to be a part of the team in the Euro Cup. But, it’s wonderful to be back in action again. Hopefully, he would do well in the further World Cup qualifying matches as well.