France Set for Second Place But Show Their Spirit in Serbia

France’s hopes of topping their qualifying group appear to have passed after they were held to a 1-1 by Serbia in Belgrade last night.

Raymond Domenech’s side played the vast majority of the match with ten men, with most of the French press praising the side for their spirit; sports daily L’Equipe leading with the headline “Admirable but in vain”.

The result means that Serbia continue to lead the group by four points from France with two games left to play. The French then have the same gap between themselves and Austria in the race for second place.

A win last night would have taken Les Bleus to within a point of Serbia but their hopes were dealt a crushing blow when goalkeeper Hugo Lloris conceded a penalty and was dismissed after just nine minutes.

A defensive mix-up between centre-backs William Gallas and Eric Abidal allowed Nikola Zigic a clean run on goal until he was brought down by Lloris, who saw red for being the last man.

The Lyon ‘keeper didn’t dispute the decision on the pitch but was later quoted as being “very surprised as there wasn’t really any contact. Unfortunately it’s a mistake by the referee, which punishes both me and my team at the same time. He is the referee; we must respect his decision even if it was a mistake.”

Mistake or not, Nenad Milijas buried the penalty past substitute stopped Steve Mandanda for whom Andre-Pierre Gignac was sacrificed by the away side.

However, France were level after half an hour when Serbian ‘keeper Stojkovic couldn’t hold Anelka’s drive from outside the box allowing Thierry Henry to poke in an equaliser, his 50th goal for his country.

Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic hit the bar early in the second half but France held on as Serbia also finished the game with ten men as substitute Danko Lazovic saw red in stoppage time.

Yoann Gourcuff admitted after the game that “In the context of the game, it’s a good point.”

The Bordeaux play-maker was shuffled to the right-hand side of midfield after the early red card and admitted to feeling that “at the moment, everything is going against us” after a Julien Escudé own-goal had gifted Romania a point four days earlier at the Stade de France.

Captain Thierry Henry was realistic about France’s chances of now achieving automatic qualification for the World Cup; “Bar a catastrophe from Serbia, we’re going to finish second.”

Henry, however, did also sound a note of optimism in pointing out that Germany reached the World Cup Final in 2002 after qualifying through the play-offs.

Responding to questions about his alleged falling out with head-coach Domenech the Barcelona star responded in dismissive fashion; “Personally, it’s very annoying, because what’s come out isn’t the truth. It’s a shame because it was a constructive discussion. If the rumours were true, I don’t think I would have been made captain.”

Serbia:  V. Stojkovic – B. Ivanovic, N. Vidic, I. Obradovic, A. Lukovic – N. Milijas (Z. Kuzmanovic, 71) , D. Stankovic (c), G. Kacar (M. Ninkovic, 46) – M. Krasic, N. Zigic, M. Jovanovic (D. Lazovic, 74)

France:  H. Lloris – B. Sagna, W. Gallas, E. Abidal, P. Evra – J. Toulalan, L. Diarra – N. Anelka, Y. Gourcuff (A. Diarra, 86), T. Henry (c) (F. Ribéry, 77) – A.P. Gignac (S. Mandanda, 12)

All quotes taken from L’Equipe