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VALENCIENNES, France -- Franck Ribery scored his firstinternational goal for more than three years and Adil Rami grabbeda late winner as France rallied to beat Iceland 3-2 at home onSunday in a European Championship warmup match. Coach Laurent Blanc picked an experimental and attacking lineup,featuring several fringe players. The move soon backfired asIceland went 2-0 up at halftime thanks to goals from BirkirBjarnason and Ajax striker Kolbeinn Sigthorsson. You have to analyze both halves. We were a bit timid in the firsthalf and made a lot of mistakes, Blanc said. It was hard tofind a balance between attack and defense. Right back Mathieu Debuchy pulled one back early in the second halfbut France struggled until Ribery and striker Olivier Giroud cameoff the bench. Giroud set up Ribery's 85th-minute goal with an exquisite chip overthe defense, and then showed great composure a minute later to heada cross down to Rami, who blasted the ball home. We reacted well in the second half, and by changing the balanceof the team a bit we created a lot of chances, said Blanc, whowill choose his final 23-man squad for Euro 2012 this week. We learned some interesting things tonight, now it's up to us tomake the right choices, he added. Sigthorsson created Iceland's first goal with a superb piece ofskill as he flicked the ball past Debuchy and crossed forBjarnason, who finished with a neat half-volley past goalkeeperSteve Mandanda. France's defense was exposed again for the second goal, this timeon the other flank, when Rurik Gislason beat left back Patrice Evrafor pace and whipped over a cross for Sigthorsson to finish withaplomb. France attacked strongly from the restart and equalized in the 52ndminute. Hatem Ben Arfa cut inside from the left and found striker KarimBenzema, whose perfectly weighted pass allowed Debuchy time andspace to fire the ball inside the near post. Iceland should have made it 3-1 in the 62nd when Bjarnason had onlyMandanda to beat after running onto a cross from the left, but shotstraight at the goalkeeper. Winger Florent Malouda came off the bench late in the second halfand almost created a goal for Mathieu Valbuena with 10 minutesremaining, but Valbuena's shot from the edge of the penalty areaflew just wide. Giroud, the French league's top scorer with 21 league goals forFrench champion Montpellier this season, showed his altruism whenhe cushioned a pass from Ribery with one touch and then chipped theball back to him over Iceland's flat-footed center backs. Ribery controlled it perfectly and lifted the ball into the roof ofthe net for his first goal since April 2009. Of course it feels good to score, said Ribery, who now haseight international goals. I'm very happy for myself and for theteam. We wanted to win the game, and even when we were 2-0 down webelieved we could. Two minutes later, Rami grabbed his first international goal whenGiroud showed great awareness to cushion a header down to him, andthe center half smashed the ball home from near the penalty spot. Although France responded well in the second half, the poordefending will give Blanc some cause for concern ahead of Euro2012. France has two friendlies against Serbia and Estonia before openingits Euro 2012 campaign against England on June 11. I am an expert from pcb-assembly-service.com, while we provides the quality product, such as FPC Circuit Board Manufacturer , SMT PCBA Manufacturer, PCB Assembly Service,and more.
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