France took another step towards qualification for Euro 2012 in what turned out to be a hard faught victory in Tirana. Karim Benzema was involved in both the away sides goals, scoring the first and turning provider for the second. Erjon Bogdani’s 46th minute goal gave the home fans hope but in the end France held on..just. And it’s another three points in the bag.
Laurent Blanc went with a very strong side although their doubts whether Franck Ribery and Florent Malouda should continue to start and keep the inform Mathieu Valbuena and Jeremy Menez on the bench. In behind the attackers Blanc went with Alou Diarra and the highly rated Yann M’Vila (earlier M'Vila blog) and this was a good move from Blanc, in the three games that both have started France have gone on to win without conceding a goal.
In defence it was Lyon’s Anthony Reveillere that replaced Bacary Sagna, as he is struggling to beat a virus. Eric Abidal and Younes Kaboul paired on in the centre and Patrice Evra was on the left.
And the away side couldn’t have asked for a better start after 11 minutes when a lapse in the Albanian defending allowed Karim Benzema to pick up the loose ball dribble past three defenders to the edge of the box where his right foot strike crept under ‘keeper Samir Ujikani and gave France the lead.
The goal was Benzema’s 13th goal in 39 caps one goal better than Thierry Henry had for France at the same stage. After the goal France were caught napping as Albania nearly hit back after less than a minute.
Younes Kaboul lost his footing giving away the ball. Ervin Bulku and Ervin Skela combined to set Hamdi Salihi for a great chance but his shot could only find the cross bar.
Albania were made to pay for their lack of killer instinct in front of goal. M’Vila galloped forward and found Benzema with a lovely ball down the right. The striker then held up the play, waiting for support, his pass found M’Vila and the Rennes midfielder stroked the ball beautifully into the corner past Ujikani. With only 18 minutes gone France were in dreamland.
Two great saves finished off the first half. Hugo Lloris was called into action to turn away a fierce volley from Ansi Agolli and then Samir Ujikani redeemed himself for the first goal by making a tremendous one-handed save to deny Franck Ribery’s free-kick.
After the break it was Albania that came out of the traps running. A simple ball over the top caught out Kaboul and Abidal, the defenders getting in each others way and Erjon Bogdani took advantage to place the ball between Lloris’ legs and give the home fans something to cheer about.
It could have easily been 2-2 with half an hour to go but Lloris made himself big to stop Bulku’s shot. France then managed to get some more control on the game. In the last 10 minutes they really should have put the game beyond the hosts. Both Younes Kaboul and Samir Nasri saw efforts hit the woodwork.
Although it was not a memorable performance for Les Bleus in any qualification tournament all that matters is the three points and that would have been Laurent Blanc’s target. His side now play Romania on Tuesday and Blanc will know a win in Bucharest will put them one step closer to qualification.
