France left it very late but emerged with a 3-2 win at home against Iceland. Despite the victory, it was hardly a pleasant experience for Laurent Blanc and company, who saw a very strong team struggle mightily against a team they were supposed to steamroll. Things started well for the hosts, who went on the attack immediately and saw a well-taken Karim Benzema goal pulled back for offside, but the Icelandic defence was stouter than anticipated and the French line was something of a mess.
France Vs. Iceland: France Forced To Dig Deep In Comeback Win
Iceland took advantage of France's poor defending in the 27th minute, when Kolbeinn Sigthorsson looped a header into the penalty area for midfielder Birkir Bjarnason to smash first time past Steve Mandanda. The home fans were stunned, but worse was yet to come when Sigthorsson sidefooted home a cross to make it 2-0 seven minutes later. The boos began to rain down at the Stade du Hainaut, and France kicked it up a notch.
They pulled one back just after the break when Mathieu Debouchy netted a loose ball from an acute angle, but it took until the 85th minute for France to draw level - Iceland were defending very well and posing a threat on the counterattack too. But they couldn't deal with Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery, who played a lovely one-two with Olivier Giroud before completing the move with a very tidy lob over Hannes Thor Halldorsson to level the score.
Adil Rami completed the comeback two minutes thereafter when he took advantage of a scramble in the box to blast home from the edge of the area, sealing a 3-2 France win that raises more questions than answers ahead of the Euros this summer.
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