France's Koscielny cleared to play WCup opener

ZURICH (AP) — France defender Laurent Koscielny has been cleared to play from the start of next year's World Cup after FIFA only gave him a one-match suspension for his red card against Ukraine in the first leg of their playoff.

Koscielny was sent off in injury time of the 2-0 loss in Kiev after pushing Oleksandr Kucher in the face and knocking him down. FIFA said Monday that its disciplinary committee decided against a longer suspension than the automatic one-match ban, which Koscielny served in the return leg. That means the Arsenal defender will not have to miss any games at the World Cup in Brazil.

Without Koscielny, France won the return leg 3-0 last month to go through 3-2 on aggregate.