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[monks data]
Attendance: 12,000
Iceland national football team
Euro Champ Qualifying | Group Stage
Oct 11, 2019 at 7.45pm UK
 
France national football team

0-1

FT(HT: 0-0)
Giroud (66' pen.)

France boss Didier Deschamps admits beating Iceland "wasn't simple"

Didier Deschamps admits beating Iceland
© Reuters
Olivier Giroud's goal was enough to fire Les Bleus to victory in Reykjavik.

Didier Deschamps admitted France had needed to dig deep after taking another step towards Euro 2020 with a hard-fought win in Iceland.

Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud scored the only goal of the Group H qualifier in Reykjavik from the penalty spot after 66 minutes.

The 1-0 victory means the world champions can secure their place at next year's tournament by beating group leaders Turkey on Monday.

Similarly, Turkey could also qualify with a victory, and the losers would have to wait another month to try again, so there is plenty riding on the clash at the Stade de France.

Deschamps told TF1: "We needed to win here and that wasn't simple even if we had several chances to score a second goal. They're always dangerous from set-pieces.

"That game was all about commitment and we lived up to that. We had a lot of the ball and we could have been out of danger with the chances we had at the end of the game.

"It's a good win ahead of Monday, an important step."

Forward Antoine Griezmann, who was fouled for the decisive penalty, said: "It was very difficult, a really hard match.

"We needed to take the three points and now we have an important game coming up at home. We're going to suffer against Turkey and we'll need to prepare well for it."

For Iceland, the result left them six points adrift of the group leaders with three games to play.

Coach Erik Hamren, the former Sweden boss, told reporters: "I'm proud of the players and the team. We did everything we could, but of course I am disappointed not to get the result.

"Proud but frustrated – that's how I feel right now."

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Group A

TeamPWDLPTS
1 Cyprus Cyprus00000
2 Georgia Georgia00000
3 Norway Norway00000
Q Scotland flag Scotland00000
Q Spain Spain00000

Group B

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Q France France00000
2 Gibraltar flag Gibraltar00000
3 Greece Greece00000
Q Netherlands Netherlands00000
5 Ireland Rep. Ireland00000

Group C

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Q England flag England00000
Q Italy Italy00000
3 Malta flag Malta00000
4 Macedonia N. Macedonia00000
5 Ukraine Ukraine00000

Group D

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1 Armenia Armenia00000
Q Croatia Croatia00000
3 Latvia Latvia00000
Q Turkey Turkey00000
5 Wales flag Wales00000

Group E

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Q Czech Republic Czech Republic00000
3 Faroe Islands Faroe Islands00000
4 Republic of Moldova Moldova00000
5 Poland Poland00000

Group F

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Q Austria Austria00000
2 Azerbaijan Azerbaijan00000
Q Belgium Belgium00000
4 Estonia Estonia00000
5 Sweden Sweden00000

Group G

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1 Bulgaria Bulgaria00000
Q Hungary Hungary00000
3 Lithuania Lithuania00000
4 Montenegro Montenegro00000
Q Serbia Serbia00000

Group H

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Q Denmark Denmark00000
2 Finland Finland00000
3 Kazakhstan Kazakhstan00000
4 Northern Ireland flag N. Ireland00000
5 San Marino flag San Marino00000
Q Slovenia Slovenia00000

Group I

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1 Andorra flag Andorra00000
2 Belarus Belarus00000
3 Israel Israel00000
4 Kosovo flag Kosovo00000
Q Romania Romania00000
Q Switzerland Switzerland00000

Group J

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1 Bosnia Bosnia H'vina00000
2 Iceland Iceland00000
3 Liechtenstein flag Liechtenstein00000
4 Luxembourg flag Luxembourg00000
Q Portugal Portugal00000
Q Slovakia Slovakia00000


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