France 4 - Belarus 2; Finland 1 - Georgia 0

Finland were visiting Tbilisi looking to defeat hosts Georgia.  Georgia were the more offensive-minded outfit in the first half, but they were caught on the counter midway through the period.  A long ball forward from Kasper Hamalainan gave Teemu Pukki a route to goal.  Pukki dribbled beyond the slide of Aleksander Amisulashvili and dodged the goalkeeper thirty yards off his line, but Pukki missed his shot at the completely empty net. The half ended 0-0.

A flying sideways scissor kick effort from five yards was bounced over the Finnish goal by Tornike Okriashvili.  Roman Eremenko was brought down in position for a dangerous Finnish free kick by Georgian captain Jaba Kankava.  Eremenko earned a penalty kick when his free kick was handled in the box, and Eremenko converted the chance to put Finland ahead with just over a quarter hour left in the match.  Adding to the difficulty level of a potential comeback, Georgia lost Kankava for a second yellow card one minute after conceding.  Pukki hit the underside of the crossbar and was not rewarded with a goal though it appeared the ball bounced over the line before spinning back into play.  Finland win 1-0 and eliminate Georgia from the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Gomel was the site of a goalkeeping error festival as France came into town to visit Belarus.  France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris somehow failed to stop a soft header off a Belarusian corner by Egor Filipenko, allowing the opening goal to slip under his body.  Belarus took a surprising 1-0 lead into the break, and Finland were pleased to know they had a good chance to remain alive in the competition.

Georgia goalkeeper Sergei Veremko committed a foul on Franck Ribery (pictured, blue) in the box, so Ribery dusted himself off and converted the penalty kick for 1-1.  A twenty-one yard strike from Timofei Kalachev was poorly judged by Lloris, who for some reason thought a hands-interlocked attempted punch one foot in front of his face was proper technique to make the save.  He was wrong, and the ball zoomed past him into the goal to make it 2-1 to the hosts.  Mathieu Valbuena sent in a low cross off a slide that somehow evaded multiple defenders on its way to the back post.  Ribery was there to tap in for the equalizer.  Ribery started a third goal sequence with a short pass to Valbuena who made another short pass immediately thereafter to Samir Nasri.  Nasri rolled his strike into the corner to give France a 3-2 lead.  Two minutes later, Veremko dropped a catch on an inswinging cross.  Paul Pogba won the ball in the resulting goalmouth scramble and pushed the ball over the line to put France ahead by two goals.  France win 4-2 and eliminate Finland from the tournament.

Spain 14 pts +8
France 14 pts +6
Finland OUT
Georgia OUT
Belarus OUT

Goals
Finland
Roman Eremenko 74 PK

France
Franck Ribery 47 PK, 64
Samir Nasri 70
Paul Pogba 73

Belarus
Egor Filipenko 32
Timofei Kalachev 57

Match Reports:
http://www.uefa.com/worldcup/season=2014/matches/round=2000294/match=2008423/postmatch/report/index.html
http://www.goal.com/en-gb/match/92553/belarus-vs-france/report?
http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/worldcup/story/belarus-2-4-france-world-cup-qualifier-franck-ribery-match-report-091013
http://www.france24.com/en/20130910-france-beat-belarus-4-2-world-cup-qualifier-football

Highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ov6_27InJ74 (Finland v. Georgia)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWJ6I4GsoXU (France v. Belarus)