France beaten by Belarus
Reuters - Friday 03 September 2010, 21:31
PARIS - France, under new coach Laurent
Blanc, failed to shrug off their old ways as they slumped to an
embarrassing 1-0 home defeat against Belarus in their opening
Euro 2012 Group D qualifier on Friday.
The French players were cheered on to the pitch by
flag-waving fans but were booed off it an hour and a half later
after Belarus substitute Sergei Kislyak netted the winner with
four minutes left having converted his side's only clear chance.
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"I want to thank the fans who came here to support us,"
France captain Florent Malouda told the angry crowd shortly
after the final whistle was blown on Les Bleus's hopes of
rediscovering the pride they lost at the World Cup in June.
"It is a pity to start this campaign with a defeat."
Hopes were high that France would have closed the door on
their sorry World Cup chapter, when they were knocked out in the
first round after a players' revolt, and start afresh under
Blanc.
The players were greeted by a round of applause by the Stade
de France faithfuls during the warm-up as Blanc welcomed back
nine players who were at the World Cup in South Africa.
France took control of the game early on, with Marseille
striker Loic Remy's header going just wide from a corner kick
after 17 minutes.
Though they were shaky at the back, Belarus proved sharp on
the break as Alexander Hleb twice caused havoc in the French
defence.
Florent Malouda produced France's first attempt on target
when Yury Zhevnov parried away the Chelsea winger's powerful
20-metre drive on the stroke of halftime.
Malouda thought he had scored in the 63rd minute but was
ruled offside.
France piled on the pressure and Mathieu Valbuena, who came
in for the injured Remy in the first half, had a superb dipping
volley from the edge of the box tipped over his bar by Zhevnov.
Louis Saha came in for Jeremy Menez in the 70th minute in an
attempt by Blanc to toughen up his front line. The Everton
striker, however, was replaced injured 10 minutes later by
newcomer Kevin Gameiro.
It was not enough, however, as Kislyak, who came on in the
75th minute, collected a back-pass from Vyacheslav Hleb in the
box before firing past Hugo Lloris.
France will next travel to Bosnia on Tuesday.
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