The World Cup qualifier between Sweden and France last night at Friends Arena, had all you could ask for in a match at this level. A sold out Swedish national stadium, a France team packed with superstars, and an absolute dramatic ending to the match in the 93rd minute.
Sweden walked away as group leaders after Ola Toivonen scored the decider after a poor clearance by the Tottenham keeper Hugo Lloris.
But above all the drama, the real highlight of the game came after 37 minutes when Arsenal player Oliver Giroud scored an absolute stunner and put France in front with 1-0. The Arsenal forward returned to the pitch after a clash of heads in an earlier sequence, when he received the ball, flicked it up onto his left foot and fired off a shot wich left goalkeeper Robin Olsen with absolutely no chance to reach it.
Giroud is in a total goal scoring frenzy for his National team and has scored 27 goals which allows him to share the eighth place on France’s all-time top scorers list together with Karem Benzema. Giroud has now 17 starts and 17 goals for France. This is surely something that makes Arsene Wenger have a proper think how he want’s to go forward with the team for next season.
📹: Giroud just did this for France 🔥🔥
(VIDEO: TFI)pic.twitter.com/HVmE1r3dCm
— CaughtOffside (@caughtoffside) June 9, 2017
Another Gunners player had to keep on his toes to prevent the Swedish team from scoring earlier in the game. Laurent Koscielny played in the backline together with Raphael Varane and stood for a solid performance as we are used to seeing from the French defender.
Sweden stole the first spot in the group from France after winning with 2-1.