Giroud: France can finish ahead of Spain

Sep 10, 2012 10:55:00 AM

The Arsenal attacker has admitted that les Bleus could be in for a tough task, but he remains hopeful that they can pull off an upset

Olivier Giroud feels that France have what it takes to finish ahead of Spain in their 2014 World Cup qualifying section.

The Arsenal striker believes that the reigning European champions are the best team in the world, but is nonetheless hopeful of causing an upset by pipping Spain to automatic qualification for the finals in Brazil.

"Spain are benefiting from an incredible generation of players who have been performing together for a very long time. I don’t know if any team will ever be able to do better than they have. That said, from what I could see from the sidelines, I don’t think we were that far away from them during that quarter-final," Giroud stated to fifa.com.

"Spain are the best team in the world, so it’s going to be difficult, but not impossible. We have to show some ambition. If we can win every one of our other matches, anything can happen in the two games we play against them.

"We’re going to try our utmost to qualify automatically and avoid the play-offs, because those are always dangerous to be involved in. The fact that Brazil are hosting the next World Cup obviously gives everyone a little bit of extra motivation. It’s an event that nobody wants to miss."

France beat Finland 1-0 in their opening game on Friday and will lock horns with Belarus on Tuesday.

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