Defender Mamadou Sakho scored a brace to ensure for France to seal their berth in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Sakho directed home a cross from Mathieu Debucky 18 minutes from time to score the third goal, his second, of the match as the Stade de France erupted with jubilation. France won the two-legged tie against Ukraine 3-2 to find a place in the WC.
France went into the match with a 2-goal deficit as they lost the first leg of the tie in Ukraine. They needed a strong performance in their home soil o overcome that deficit. It started in a great fashion for the Les Bleus as Sakho opened the scoring for the hosts on the 22nd France the much-needed energy to launch a fight back and started controlling the proceedings from then on. France then scored the second goal of the match through Karim Benzema on the 34th the match to level the tie. It was a controversial goal as Benzema was found to be in an off-side position, rightly protested by the visitors.
As the match went into the second half, things went worse for Ukraine. Two minutes on, Yevhen Khacheridi was given marching orders after a second yellow card for a foul on Frank Ribery. France took total control of the match against 10-men Ukraine. Then came the biggest moment of the match, 18 minutes from the regulation time. Debucky floated in a cross. Sakho lashed on to that from close range as the whole stadium broke into wild celebrations. They waved their flags and celebrated one of the biggest comebacks of a football nation in modern times.
Tags: 2014 World Cup Brazil world cup FIFA World Cup France France beat Ukraine France qualifies for 2014 world cup Frank Ribery Karim Benzema Les Bleus Mamadou Sakho Mathieu Debucky Yevhen Khacheridi
