The French team is America!

Ten years after the attacks of November 13, 2015 – and a nightmarish evening where horror and barbarism struck at the threshold of the Stade de France before taking over the streets of Paris – the Blues honored the commemorations by signing a major victory at the expense of Ukraine, on the lawn of the Parc des Princes.

After a tense first period without much relief, Didier Deschamps’ men were able to free themselves thanks to a penalty transformed into a panenka by Kylian Mbappé (1-0, 55^e). Michael Olise (2-0, 76^e), Kylian Mbappé – again scorer for a 400^e career achievement, already, at only 26 years old (3-0, 83^e) – and Hugo Ekitike (4-0, 88^e) having then given more substance to this great success.

Building on this result, the Blues are joining the 2026 World Cup – the 17th^e qualification of the French team for the major football event (in 23 editions). An outcome which will then allow Didier Deschamps to proudly come full circle before passing the baton, probably, to his former teammate Zinedine Zidane.

France-Ukraine, the lines at kick-off

The French eleven: Maignan – Koundé, Saliba, Upamecano, Digne – Kanté, Koné – Olise, Cherki, Barcola – Mbappé.

The Ukrainian eleven: Trubin – Konoplya, Zabarnyi, Matvienko, Mykolenko – Malinovskiy, Kalyuzhnyi, Sudakov – Tsygankov, Vanat, Voloshyn.