In the absence of their star captain Kylian Mbappé, Didier Deschamps' France team was unable to dominate Iceland on Monday evening in their fourth match of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. At least, the Blues did not manage to remain in control of the situation during this meeting in Reykjavik (while a fourth victory could offer them early qualification).
Uninspired and therefore not very dangerous offensively, with Michael Olise at number 10, Florian Thauvin and Christopher Nkunku on the sides and Jean-Philippe Mateta at the forefront, the French players let the Icelanders gain confidence as the minutes passed before conceding the opener as half-time approached.
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On an eccentric free kick on the left wing, the Blues showed a confusing passivity. At the near post, Eduardo Camavinga failed to clear the ball and this benefited Victor Palsson, who tackled the ball to send it into the back of Mike Maignan's net (39th).
“An obvious fault” for Deschamps
The Icelandic achievement was validated by the video assistant as the scorer clearly brought Manu Koné to the ground in the center. “There is an obvious fault on Manu Koné”regretted the French coach at half-time on TF1.
Palsson, a 34-year-old defender, was quite an adventurer during his career. He played for Hibernians (Scotland), New York Red Bulls and DC United (MLS), Nijmegen (Netherlands), Helsingborg (Sweden), ZĂĽrich (Switzerland), Darmstadt and Schalke 04 (Germany), Eupen (Belgium), Plymouth (England) and now plays in the Danish second division (Horsens). Icelandic international since 2014, he did not play in Euro 2016.
