VAR rescues ten-man France against Iceland

The Video Assistant Referee came to the rescue of France as they held on to a 2-1 win in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

Iceland thought they had secured a draw two minutes before the end of the game, which saw Les Bleus play over 20 minutes of the game with ten men after Aurélien Tchouaméni was given the marching orders for a bad tackle.

France had to leave Kylian Mbappé, who has now surpassed Thierry Henry on the France all-time goalscorer chart, alone in front as they defended their lead against a brave Iceland side that had taken the lead before succumbing to a defeat.

The Real Madrid striker netted a goal and registered an assist to help France narrowly beat their visitors, continuing their winning start to FIFA World Cup qualifying.

France had the larger percentage as they controlled almost the entirety of the first half, but headed into the break level. 

The 2018 World Cup winners played some lively football that kept  Elias Rafn Olafsson busy in the Iceland goal. 

Michael Olise released Marcus Thuram, but the Inter Milan striker got a toe on the throughball, without managing to beat the goalkeeper.

The goalie again was called to action when he saved Thuram’s shot from the back post from an Mbappé cross.

He stopped another back-post shot and also kept out Manu Koné’s well-struck close-range effort.

However, the visitors went ahead mid-way through the first half due to a lapse in concentration from Olise, who played a dangerous ball inside his own box. The Bayern winger gifted Andri Gudjohnsen a pass, and he only needed one touch to turn it past Mike Maignan.

, Les Bleus were eventually rewarded from the penalty spot as Mikael Anderson clipped Thuram inside the box. Mbappé equalised by sending Olafsson the wrong way.

He is now five goals shy of Olivier Giroud, who is France’s all-time highest goal scorer.

Les Bleus continued from where they stopped in the first half by adding more intensity to the ball early in the second half.

Having done more to stretch Iceland’s organised defence, Olise had a chance to atone for his error and went very close. He hit the bar with a first-time effort from outside the box.

Les Bleus eventually turned it around just after the hour mark. They punished Iceland for switching off. They allowed Mbappé to run onto an excellent Aurélien Tchouaméni ball in behind, and the French star played a simple ball for Bradley Barcola to tap into the empty net. 

However, we were made to finish the match in an unfavourable position as Tchouaméni was shown a straight red card for a clumsy studs-up challenge on Jon Dagur Thorsteinsson.

 Although it led to a forced change of approach from Deschamps’ side, they continued to threaten, albeit only on the counter.

Gudsjohnsen thought that he had netted a late equaliser only for it to be chalked off.  The Blackburn Rovers forward was adjudged to have fouled Ibrahima Konaté before turning home Hakon Arnar Haraldsson’s cross. 

Les Bleus then hung on to register their second win of World Cup qualifying, after their 2-0 win over Ukraine on Friday.