France Keep World Cup Defence Alive With England Scalp
11 December, 2022
France kept their FIFA World Cup title defence alive by advancing to the semi-finals with a 2-1 win over England on Saturday night.
FIFA World Cup
Result: England 1-2 France
Date: 10 December 2022
Venue: Al Bayt Stadium
Both France and England named unchanged line-ups from their wins over Poland and Senegal respectively in the quarter-final round.
The world champions carved out the game's first chance inside the opening ten minutes when Ousmane Dembele nipped the ball ahead of Luke Shaw before picking out Olivier Giroud, who headed straight at Jordan Pickford.
France got the breakthrough on 17 minutes when Aurélien Tchouaméni collected a pass from Antoine Griezmann before taking one touch and blasting into the bottom corner from 25 yards out. England nearly pulled themselves level a few minutes later when Harry Kane rolled Dayot Upamecano to go one-on-one with goalkeeper Hugo Lloris in the box, but his Tottenham Hotspur teammate made the save.
Gareth Southgate's men enjoyed most of the possession as the first half continued, but they were unable to carve out any more serious openings in the final third.
England carried that momentum into the second half and earned themselves a penalty seven minutes when Tchouaméni brought down Bukayo Saka. Kane stepped up and blasted the ball into the top corner to level matters.
The game began to open after that but it was England who went close to taking the lead on 70 minutes when Henderson's free-kick found Harry Maguire, who steered his header inches wide of the upright.
England were made to rue that miss as France restored their lead in the 79th minute when Giroud bagged his fourth goal of the tournament by glancing home a header from Griezmann's cross.
Southgate's charges were given a lifeline two minutes when the referee awarded them a second penalty after a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) review for Theo Hernandez's silly foul on substitute Mason Mount.
Kane stepped up for a second ocassion but the result was not the same, as the England skipper blasted his spot-kick well over the crossbar.
The Three Lions threw everything forward in search of an equaliser, with Marcus Rashford going closest with a free-kick that shaved the top of the net but the French managed to hold out for the win.
Didier Deschamps' men will now face African giants Morocco in the semi-finals this week.
Source: www.snl24.com