France’s hopes of automatic qualification hit a snag when the Group A leaders were surprisingly held to a 0-0 draw by Luxembourg in Toulouse. France almost broke the deadlock five minutes before half-time when Antoine Griezmann hit the bar from a free-kick. After 63 minutes Djibril Sidibe had a header well saved by the Luxembourg goalkeeper Jonathan Joubert and Paul Pogba headed against the bar 10 minutes later. However, there was almost a nasty sting in the tail for France in the 78th minute when the Luxembourg Gelson Rodrigues burst into the box and struck the post with an angled shot. “We were always in control, but it was always a difficult and uncertain match,” said Portugal coach’s Fernando Santos.

Source: The Guardian September 03, 2017 21:47 UTC