France held at Ukraine; Denmark stays perfect in qualifying
Washington, Sep 05 (AP): Reigning champion France missed the injured Kylian Mbapp in a 1-1 draw at Ukraine in World Cup qualifying but still stayed atop Europe Group D.
Mykola Shaparenko scored his first international goal for Ukraine just before halftime by smashing in a shot from 20 meters on Saturday.
Anthony Martial leveled after the break following a setup from Kingsley Coman and Adrien Rabiot. It was Martial’s second international goal and it came five years and three days after the Manchester United forward’s previous strike in a friendly against Italy. Mbapp left France’s squad with a calf problem after playing most of a 1-1 draw with Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday. Ukraine also drew at France in March.
France has nine points from five matches and Finland is next with five points from three matches after a header from Joel Pohjanpalo earned a 1-0 win over Kazakhstan.
Ukraine also has five points from five matches, while Bosnia and Kazakhstan have two points each. Only the group winners directly qualify for the World Cup. Second-place finishers face a playoff.
Also, Portugal beat 2022 World Cup host Qatar 3-1 in a friendly despite missing Cristiano Ronaldo.
