Arsenal 24yo helps country qualify for World Cup | OneFootball

France qualified for the World Cup on Thursday night, with William Saliba helping the team to a clean sheet against Ukraine.

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Going into Thursday’s matches, France knew that a win over Ukraine would send them to the World Cup, regardless of the result in the other game. But they were coming up against a Ukraine side needing a result to stay in the play-off places, so their opponents had plenty of motivation.

Arsenal defender William Saliba started the match, and he ended up helping his team to a clean sheet in a 4-0 win.

Though Saliba would’ve had his heart in his mouth during a VAR check on his defender partner Dayot Upamecano, with the referee ultimately waving away a penalty despite a pitch-side review early in the second half at 0-0.

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The game hinged on that moment, with France opening the scoring a few minutes later, and going on to add three more in the final 15 minutes. The highlights are available here.

The three points were all the team needed, putting them six clear of second place with just one game to play and guaranteeing qualification for the 2026 World Cup.

With Iceland beating Azerbaijan in the other game, both Iceland and Ukraine sit on seven points with one game left, but with Iceland having the goal difference advantage.

If Ukraine want to qualify for the World Cup, they need to beat Iceland in their final game. And they’ll have to do it without Arsenal loanee Oleksandr Zinchenko, who is missing this break through injury.

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As for France, they’ve become just the second European team to book their spot at the final tournament, after England achieved the same feat in October.