The logo of the 2018 World Intellectual Impairment Sport Football World Championships featuring the Swedish flag drawn artistically

France strengthen chances at 2018 World Intellectual Impairment Sport Football Championships

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France have pulled themselves equal on points in group A with hosts Sweden after a 4-0 win over Germany at the 2018 International Federation for Athletes with Intellectual Impairments (World Intellectual Impairment Sport) Football World Championships on Thursday (9 August).

France now have six points but sit third behind Sweden on goal difference. They will play the hosts on Monday (13 August) in a crucial match which may decide who will advance to the semi-finals.

A goal from Kevin Bellanger in the 28th minute gave France the lead. Bellanger miss-hit the ball but it was was deflected into the goal nonetheless.

The rest of the first half saw chances for both sides but no one could capitalise.

It was not until the 78th minute that France managed to double their lead. A screaming cross from Gaetan Begue found the head of Florent Paris and was poked into the back of the net.

That opened the flood gates for France. Morgan Lebraud followed just a few minutes later with a shot from just inside the area that German goalkeeper Sascha Mundorf could not stop.

Begue was the then scorer of France’s fourth and final with just three minutes left on the clock. He calmly slotted the ball past Mundorf and celebrated with a back flip.

Paris said: “It was a good match. It was necessary for us to win today because we lost the first match against Argentina.

French technical advisor Herve Dewaele said: “We had a special preparation for this game – we watched Germany on the TV and we tried to have the best preparation. We will do the same against Sweden.

About the 2018 World Intellectual Impairment Sport Football World Championships

Teams will play in two groups of four ahead of the semi-finals on 16 August and final on 18 August.

Group A features Sweden, France, Germany and Argentina. Saudi Arabia, Poland, Japan and Russia are in group B. All teams in group A will be awarded a 3-0 scoreline for fixtures against South Africa after their late withdrawal.

Games are being shown live at the World Intellectual Impairment Sport YouTube channel. Information about groups, the schedule and results are available at https://iwfc.se/.

Photographs will be available on request from lucy.dominy@inas.org.