DOHA, DEC 11
Defending champions France moved into the semifinals of the Qatar World Cup 2022 after surviving an England onslaught to register a 2-1 win at the Al Bayt Stadium on Saturday.
France will meet Morocco -- who stunned Portugal 1-0 in an earlier quarterfinal -- in the semifinal on Wednesday.
Oliver Giroud netted the winner in the 78th minute after England pulled level in the 54th minute through a penalty by Harry Kane. Kane missed England’s second penalty of the match in the 84th minute as France hung on for a win.
France went ahead in the 17th minute when Aurelien Tchouameni unleashed a long ranger from the corner of the England penalty box to beat goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.
In a counter-attack from France, Kylian Mbappe rode the challenge from Declan Rice as he switched to the right, and Griezmann pulled it back to Tchouameni who fired through Jude Bellingham's legs and into the bottom-left corner to give France lead 1-0.
In the 53rd minute, England earned a penalty when Bukayo Saka was brought down in the box by Tchouameni. Captain Harry Kane made no mistake as he placed the ball to the right side corner of France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris in the 54th minute as England pulled level 1-1.
Pickford came down to push away an effort from Adrien Rabiot to deny France in the next moment.
England earned a free kick on the counter attack in 18th minute after a foul on Saka but Luke Shaw’s shot went straight into France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
In the 28th minute, Jordan Henderson powered a long ranger which was brilliantly saved by Lloris for a corner. The corner kick was scrambled away by the French defence to avert any danger.
Griezmann picked up a yellow card in the 43rd minute.
The second-half began with Dembele getting a yellow and followed by a screamer from Giroud just put over the bar by Pickford.
In the 70th minute, Henderson’s freekick was headed by Harry Maguire to just miss the target.
Full capacity crowd of 68, 895 were present at the Al Bayt Stadium to cheer both the teams.
Pickford produced another sensational save and the joy didn’t last long as France went up again with a powerful header by Giroud in the 78th minute. The French striker, who was picked as the man of the match, got in front of England defender Maguire to cash in on Griezmann’s great cross.
England got a penalty in the 83rd minute after a VAR decision. Mount Mason was pushed down by France defender Theo Hernandez.
Kane blazed the kick above the bar and into the stands as France kept the lead 2-1.
Substitute Marcus Rashford took the last-moment free kick for England and it missed the target narrowly to land on the roof of the outside net.
France saw their first chance when Oliver Giroud failed to connect a cross from Ousmane Dembele at the right flank in the ninth minute.
In the next minute, a move started with Dembele finding Greizmann who could deliver a pass to Giroud but the diving header went to the safe hands of Pickford.
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