France must wait till next month to ‘finish the job’ of qualifying

Oct 16, 2019 06:00 am

France must wait to claim a place at Euro 2020 after the world champions were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Turkey in a high-octane qualifier yesterday morning (Singapore time).

Turkey's Kaan Ayhan equalised eight minutes from time after France substitute Olivier Giroud scored in the 76th minute, as the visitors stayed top of Group H on head-to-head record, following a 2-0 win over Les Bleus in Konya four months ago.

"We could have avoided that goal. We did everything we needed to win that game, we had the chances," France coach Didier Deschamps said.

"It's a good point. We'll have to finish the job in November," he added, saying Turkey deserved to top the group.

France can seal qualification with a win over Moldova next month, while Turkey need just a draw against Iceland, who defeated Andorra 2-0 yesterday to stay third, four points behind the leaders. - REUTERS