France 2 Belarus 1: Goals from Antoine Griezmann and Arsenal ace Olivier Giroud secure top spot in Group A for the French
FRANCE secured top spot in their 2018 World Cup qualifying group with a home win over minnows Belarus.
Goals from Antoinne Griezmann and Olivier Giroud - along with Sweden’s failure against the Netherlands - meant the French finished at the summit of Group A.
Atletico ace Griezmann got the ball rolling on 27 minutes when he fired home after a driving midfield run from Blaise Matuidi.
And, just five minutes later, Arsenal striker Giroud had the result wrapped up with a scrappy yet priceless finish.
Woeful defending from Belarus let Griezmann turn provider as he delivers a teasing ball that Giroud beat two defenders to before bundling a deflected strike in.
Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris should have had a faultless evening but Anton Saroka was allowed to score a consolation strike before the interval.
Moments after going close with a brilliant long-range volley, Saroka burst into the France and beat Raphael Varane to a fizzed cross and angle the ball in.
France head to Russia after claiming 23 points, four ahead of Sweden who could only manage 19 after their shock defeat to exiters Holland.
And the Belarus striker should have equalised on 64 minutes but blew his chance.
The France defence went to sleep and he had the goal gaping but poked his close-range shot just wide of the near post.
Dutch winger Arjen Robben bagged a brace but it was too little too late as his side was already out and were only spoiling the party for Sweden.
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