"France will look to continue their perfect start to the 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign when they host Azerbaijan in Group D on Friday night. Les Bleus sit comfortably at the top of the group with six points from their opening two fixtures, while Azerbaijan occupy the bottom spot with just a single point so far, two behind second-placed Iceland."
"The French have faced Azerbaijan just twice before, during qualifying for Euro 1996, winning both encounters comfortably, 2-0 and 10-0 respectively. As for Azerbaijan, their qualifying campaign began in difficult fashion with a 5-0 defeat to Iceland. However, they showed improvement soon after, holding Ukraine to a 1-1 draw four days later. That result gave them their first point of the campaign, though they remain rooted to the foot of Group D."
France lead Group D with six points from two wins and will host Azerbaijan, who have one point and sit bottom of the group. France beat Ukraine 2-0 and came from behind to defeat Iceland 2-1, with Kylian Mbappe and Bradley Barcola scoring in the latter match. France previously beat Azerbaijan 2-0 and 10-0 during Euro 1996 qualifying. Azerbaijan began with a 5-0 loss to Iceland before earning a 1-1 draw with Ukraine. Aykhan Abbasov is interim head coach after Fernando Santos departed. France will be without suspended Aurelien Tchouameni and injured players including Bradley Barcola, Marcus Thuram, and Ousmane Dembele; Adrien Rabiot is expected to start and Kingsley Coman could feature wide.
Read at 101GREATGOALS.COM
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