France fights back for unconvincing qualification victory over Iceland

A disjointed France recovered from a major Michael Olise gaffe to beat Iceland 2-1 in World Cup qualifying on Tuesday, holding on for a second straight win after Aurelien Tchouameni was sent off and a late equaliser was disallowed.

Olise inexplicably gifted the opening goal to Iceland's Andri Gudjohnsen at the Parc des Princes, leaving France in danger of a first home defeat in a major tournament qualifier since 2013.

But Kylian Mbappe equalised with a penalty right on half-time and then ran through before setting up Paris Saint-Germain's Bradley Barcola for the winner just past the hour mark.

Tchouameni was then shown a red card before Gudjohnsen was controversially denied an equaliser following a VAR check, as the home side held on to follow up their 2-0 win over Ukraine in their opening qualifier last Friday.

Despite being a long way from their best, the 2018 World Cup winners and 2022 runners-up are already in a strong position in Group D with the maximum six points.

Iceland are next on three points, with Ukraine and Azerbaijan on one point each after drawing 1-1 in Baku.

Les Bleus, who have qualified for every World Cup since the last tournament to be held in the United States in 1994, next host Azerbaijan and visit Iceland in October.

The group winners qualify directly for next year's 48-team tournament in North America, while the runners-up will advance to a play-off phase.

The build-up to this game was dominated by a falling-out between the France team and PSG after Ousmane Dembele and Desire Doue, who both play for the European champions, suffered injuries in the win over Ukraine which will keep them out for several weeks.

Mbappe goal and assist

Dembele had come off the bench in that game, while Doue started. His place in the line-up here was taken by Marcus Thuram.

He came close for France as they started the game brightly, but they fell behind just before the midway point in the first half as Iceland capitalised on Olise's error.

The Bayern Munich star inexplicably passed the ball inside his own area straight to Gudjohnsen, who needed no second invitation to fire in.

The 23-year-old London-born striker, who has just signed for Blackburn Rovers, is one of the sons of former Chelsea and Barcelona star Eidur and was playing alongside his brother Daniel up front.

France then found themselves toiling to break down a packed Icelandic defence but they were gifted the chance when Thuram went down in the box just before the interval.

The referee awarded a penalty after coming across to check the images, and Mbappe converted from the spot to make it 52 goals in 92 appearances for his country.

The hosts were expected to run away with the game in the second half and Olise crashed a shot off the bar before Mbappe latched onto Tchouameni's ball over the top on 62 minutes, advanced on goal and squared for Barcola to tap in.

But then Tchouameni was dismissed, a yellow card for crashing his studs into the shin of Jon Dagur Thorsteinsson being upgraded to red after a review.

With the extra man, Iceland thought they had snatched a point when Andri Gudjohnsen bundled in Hakon Haraldsson's cross at the second attempt.

However, the goal was ruled out following another review, with the striker adjudged to have pulled the shirt of Ibrahima Konate as he attacked the ball.