Ukraine 2 - France 0

Photo by Franck Fife

France made the trek east to Kiev to take on Ukraine in the first leg of their UEFA Playoff series.  The opening half was rather slow, but Ukraine managed to create the best chance.  A sing block by Mathieu Debuchy on Yevhen Konoplyanka prevented damage to the French goal.  The half ended without having witnessed a goal.

Ukraine won a loose ball in the attacking third through Taras Stepanenko.  Stepanenko sent a ball forward for Edmar (pictured, yellow).  Roman Zozulia received a pass in from Edmar tight space.  Zozulia shrugged off the challenge from Debuchy, who fell to the ground.  Zozulia hit a weak shot, but somehow France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris let the ball go through his arm as he dove on the ground to block the shot.  Ukraine led 1-0, and Lloris's terrible tournament in goal continued.  France really needed a response, but Samir Nasri failed to find enough of an angle on a shot off a counter attack, instead sending a shot straight into the chest and arms of Ukraine goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov.  Zozulia received a pass with his chest and turned around Laurent Koscielny.  Zozulia was then in the box with a chance at goal before Koscielny chopped him down for a penalty kick.  Ukraine converted to double their lead.  In the final minute of the match, Ukraine had a three-on-one fast break, but the man on the ball executed the counter extremely poorly and blew the opportunity.  A heavy challenge by Oleksandr Kucher on a French player really irked Koscielny, so when Kucher came into his area after the play, Koscielny shoved him in the face, earning a red card in stoppage time.  France had to finish the match with only ten men on the pitch.  Even later in stoppage time, Kucher tackled from behind to halt a late break and prevent a goal-scoring chance for France.  Kucher earned his second yellow card and his own marching orders.  The teams played ten-on-ten for the final thirty seconds.  Ukraine win 2-0 at home for their first ever victory over France.

France lose a FIFA World Cup qualifier for the first time since 2008.    France will now have to score multiple goals at home against a Ukraine side that have not conceded a goal in their past eight matches.

Goals
Ukraine
Roman Zozulia 61
Andriy Yarmolenko 82 PK

Match Reports:
http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/tacticsandanalysis/id/2219?cc=5901
http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/worldcup/story/ukraine-2-0-france-world-cup-qualifying-first-leg-match-report-roman-zozulya-scores-winner-111513
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24862512
http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/france-staring-at-brazil-world-cup-qualification-failure-after-20-loss-to-ukraine-20131116-2xn6o.html
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/news/newsid=2224392/index.html?intcmp=newsreader_news_caption

Highlights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgjLmPeoess