Remy, Gourcuff see France past Romania in Euro qualifier

Substitutes Loic Remy and Yoann Gourcuff struck late goals to give France a 2-0 win at home to Romania on Saturday that sent them top of their Euro 2012 qualifying group.

Marseille forward Remy rapped a low shot into the bottom-left corner in the 83rd minute, at the end of a game the hosts had dominated, before Gourcuff swept home a cutback from debutant Dimitri Payet in injury time.

“A match lasts 90 or even 95 minutes, so there’s no point just analysing the first 75,” said France coach Laurent Blanc.

“The team kept working and kept faith in victory. I congratulate my players; those who played from the start and those who came on.”

It was France’s first win at the Stade de France since October 2009 and allowed Blanc’s side to open up a one-point lead over Belarus and Albania in Group D.

“It was a magical feeling to score,” said Remy.

“Now we’re top of the group despite our poor start (losing at home to Belarus), so we’ve got things back on track. I hope we can continue in that vein.”

There was a hint of offside to Remy’s goal and Romania coach Razvan Lucescu expressed disappointment at the way his side had conceded.

“We recognise that the quality of the France team is higher than the Romanian team at the moment,” he said.

“But with all the effort we put in, it’s difficult to accept that we lost the match to a referee’s mistake.”

Much of the pre-match speculation from a French perspective centred on whether Blanc would look to fit both playmakers Samir Nasri and Gourcuff into his side, but Nasri alone was handed the keys to the French attack.

With Gourcuff, Blanc’s protege at Bordeaux, looking on from the bench, Nasri created France’s first clear opportunity with a lobbed pass to Florent Malouda, who angled a shot into the side netting.

Karim Benzema has endured an indifferent start to the season with Real Madrid but looked full of menace against Romania, buoyed no doubt by his opening goal in the 2-0 victory over Bosnia-Hercegovina.

He was at something approaching his strutting, confident best and grazed the right-hand post with a measured curling effort from the left-hand edge of the penalty area just before the break.

The promptings of Nasri and Mathieu Valbuena kept Romania penned inside their own box, but a header over the crossbar from captain Alou Diarra was France’s only other opening of note in the first 45 minutes.

A spattering of jeers greeted the half-time whistle, with the home fans no doubt fearful of another smash-and-grab defeat after the shock of the 1-0 loss to Belarus in France’s first group fixture.

Romania served a reminder of their threat early in the second half when George Florescu extended Hugo Lloris with a sharp half-volley, but the visitors were quickly forced onto the back foot.

From a left-wing corner Philippe Mexes headed straight at goalkeeper Costel Pantelimon, who then contrived to parry a shot from Valbuena onto the crossbar.

Nasri was next to threaten, skipping past Gabriel Tamas on the left flank but losing the battle of nerves with Pantelimon by firing at his legs from a tight angle.

Just as against Belarus, France’s territorial dominance left them open to the counter-attack and the stadium held its breath in the 71st minute when Cristian Sapunaru rolled a low shot against Lloris’s right-hand post.

Gourcuff made his entrance with 16 minutes to play, replacing Nasri, but it was his former Bordeaux team-mate Diarra who supplied the through-ball that Remy converted with aplomb.

Remy headed over from close-range and Payet, another substitute, was then denied by Pantelimon, before the Saint-Etienne forward teed up Gourcuff to cap a morale-boosting victory.