Dembélé inspires France to 2-0 win over Kazakhstan

Ousmane Dembele inspired France to a 2-0 victory over Kazakhstan on Sunday in their second match in World Cup qualifying Group D to mark a successful return to the world champions’ team.

Four days after being held 1-1 by Ukraine at the Stade de France, the French built their win in the first half with Sergiy Maliy’s own goal adding to Dembele’s opener before Kylian Mbappe missed a second-half penalty.

France moved top of the standings with four points, ahead of Bosnia, who they face away on Wednesday, Ukraine and Finland.

Ukraine host Finland later on Sunday. Kazakhstan have zero points after playing their first game of the campaign.

France midfielder Paul Pogba said Kazakhstan proved to be worthy opponents on an artificial pitch in a covered stadium.

Only captain Hugo Lloris and Antoine Griezmann remained from the team who started against Ukraine, with the Barcelona forward setting a new record of 45 consecutive starts for Les Bleus.

He beat the previous mark of Patrick Vieira, who started 44 games in a row between 1999 and 2002.

It was Griezmann’s club team mate Dembele who broke the deadlock on 20 minutes with a right-footed shot after being set up by Anthony Martial following a defence-splitting pass from Pogba.

Dembele returned to the France side as a second-half substitute against Ukraine, more than two years after his previous cap in November, 2018.

His third international goal from 23 appearances, his first since a 3-1 friendly win against Italy in June, 2018, came as a welcome boost less than two months before coach Deschamps names his squad for this year’s European Championship.

(From Reuters)