French people often like to remind each other that “à l’impossible, nul n’est tenu“, namely that “no one is expected to accomplish the impossible.”

Last night, however, les Bleus made a point of honor in proving the accuracy of another French maxim: “Impossible n’est pas français“, meaning that “Impossible is not French“!

L’immense joie des Bleus après la qualification à la Coupe du Monde du Brésil
(The tremendous joy of les Bleus after the qualification to the Brazil World Cup)!

The prospects of attending la Coupe du Monde (the World Cup) in Brazil next year did not seem too bright for the teammates of Ribéry, just 24 hours ago.

Nearly all the French sports commentators, from L’Équipe, Onze Mondial, to France Football, prematurely “buried” les Bleus, after the pale performence they offered last Friday in Kiev, where they conceded a defeat of deux à zéro (two to zero) against Ukraine.

Back in France, however, the French squad unveiled un visage complètement différent (an entirely different face.)

Although scoring three whole goals looked at first like une mission impossible, one could still sense the strong envie de gagner (will to win) which motivated them throughout the ninety minutes of the game.

Le rêve brésilien (the Brazilian dream) started to look more and more realistic when, just douze minutes après le premier but (twelve minutes after the first goal), a lucky Karim Benzema found himself nez-à-nez with the goal. He only had to shoot to score the second but, thus  leveling the global score 2-2.

Of course, French bashers will be quick to point out that the French attacker was in a flagrant position d’hors jeu (offside position), implying that once again France had somehow “stolen” its World Cup ticket thanks to yet another dirty trick (remember Thierry Henry‘s handball against Ireland, anyone?)

The replay does indeed prove that Benzema was offside. However, just a few minutes earlier, he scored a perfectly valid goal that was disallowed as an offside…

Bottom line, this time, is that one can say that les Bleus earned their qualification, fair and square!

Bravo la France!