Thierry Henry Scores 2 Goals For France To Beat Lithuania in Euro 2008 Qualifier

Just last month, the France national football team was looking dismal at third place of Group B in the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying stages. With only the top two teams of Group B qualifying for the Euro 2008 Finals, it looked like France needed to produce some amazing football in order to keep in contention with Scotland and Italy, who were leading Group B at that time. A recent 6-0 away win against the Faroe Islands restored some confidence for France, and France was looking to carry over that momentum going into a tough match against Lithuania at La Beaujoire in Nantes, France.

The match had a shaky start for both Lithuania and France. France saw a lot more attempts at the goal of Lithuania during the first half through the efforts of Florent Malouda, Karim Benzema, Franck Ribery, William Gallas and Thierry Henry, but they weren't to capitalize on their effortsto get past Lithuania keeper Zydrunas Karcemarskas. The closest France could get were hits at the crossbar care of Florent Malouda of English Premiership club Chelsea and Karim Benzema of French Ligue 1 champions Olympique Lyonnais.

Lithuania almost came close to breaking the deadlock when Lithuania's Audrius Ksanavicius was able to avoide the French defenders and curled a kick that beat France's goalkeeper Mickael Landreau, but went off the post.

The deadlock was broken until the 80th minute when France's Ben Arfa supplied a left-wing cross that was deflected and landed into the path of Thierry Henry, who made no mistake on pouncing at the ball from close range to beat Lithuania keeper Zydrunas Karcemarskas, and give France a much-deserved 1-0 advantage. The French fans went delirious as Thierry Henry's goal gives him a record total of 42 goals for France, surpassing the French record held by French football great Michel Platini, who is also the current UEFA President.

The French fans weren't even done with their celebrations when France was able to steal the ball from the Lithuania and launch a quick counter attack. French midfielder Jeremy Toulalan played a perfectly timed through-ball that Thierry Henry was able to race to beating out the Lithuanian defenders and side-footing it just past the reach of Lithuania keeper Zydrunas Karcemarskas to give France a 2-0 advantage.

When the final whistle blew, the French fans were in a party mode with France collecting the 3 points to overtake Italy in Group B. France has now a total of 25 points and are at the top of Group B. Scotland failed to collect any points after suffering a major upset in their 2-0 defeat against Georgia, and remain with 24 points to hold the second spot in Group B. Group B's Italy did not have a Euro 2008 qualifier that day, and their point standing remains unchanged at 23 points.

A crucial match for Group B takes place on November 11, 2007 when Italy visits Scotland. Italy won against Scotland 2-0 earlier this March 2007, but Italy are entering the Scottish territory, and Scotland has won 4 of 5 home matches with their only loss being a 1-0 home defeat against France back in October 2006. The November 11 Euro 2008 qualifier between Italy and Scotland will be the last group stage qualifier for Scotland, and it will also be their last chance to earn the points to be among the top 2 in Group B, and advance to the Euro 2008 Finals. A win by Italy means Scotland will not be advancing to the UEFA Euro 2008 Finals. A win by Scotland means that Italy will have to win against the Faroe Islands on November 21, and hope that France will not win in their last Euro 2008 qualifier match against Ukraine on November 21, 2007.

Defintely, everything is crucial now in Group B for France, Scotland and Italy next November 2007 in the final stages of the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifiers.