France took advantage of a measure of luck, and a wonderful
moment from Kylian Mbappe, to achieve a difficult 1-0 victory
over Sweden, in their confrontation with the third group in the
first section of the European Football League, Saturday.
And after being promoted to the first division in the competition
after winning the top of their group last season, the Swedish
national team succeeded in frustrating the world champions in
the first 40 minutes until Mbappe made the difference.
Luck stood next to Mbappe, the 21-year-old striker, when
the ball reached him after bouncing off the foot of a defender,
then dodged the Swedish defense before overtaking goalkeeper
Robin Olsen from a very narrow-angle that confirms his high skill.
As the match drew to a close, Hugo Lloris, the French
goalkeeper responded well to an attempt by Emile Voorzberg,
the Swedish winger and Marcus Berg fired a shot that hit the
defense and turned into a corner kick that the Swedish national
team could not benefit from.
Anthony Martial, who joined the France squad for the first time
since March 2018, participated in the second half instead of
Mbappe and fell inside the area in the final minutes, after
obstructing Sweden defender Victor Lindelof and his colleague
at Manchester United, so the referee awarded a penalty.
But Antoine Griezmann hit the crossbar from the penalty spot in
the last game of the match.
And next Tuesday, Sweden will meet at home with Portugal,
who defeated Croatia 4-1 on Saturday, while France plays
the Croatian national team in Paris.
