Four years ago Giroud did not manage a shot on target in the entire tournament as France won the title but in Qatar he now has four goals and has become his country’s record striker along the way.
Doha, Qatar: Olivier Giroud sent France into a World Cup semifinal with Morocco as his late header after Aurelien Tchouameni’s opener clinched a gutsy 2-1 win over England on Saturday, December 10, with Harry Kane sending a a penalty over the bar six minutes from time, a reportin The Tribune, Chandigarh says.
Four years ago Giroud did not manage a shot on target in the entire tournament as France won the title but in Qatar he now has four goals and has become his country’s record striker along the way.
France are now one win away from becoming the first back-to- back finalists since Brazil in 2002 and two from being the third team to retain the trophy after Brazil in 1962 and Italy in 1938.
Manager Didier Deschamps, who captained them to their first World Cup triumph in 1998 and coached them to their second title four years ago, described the victory as fabulous.
“It was a big game, we played a superb England team who are strong technically and physically,” he said “It’s brilliant for the players to be in the last four again. We got a bit lucky although we gave away two penalties but we kept our lead with our hearts and our guts.”
France really did have to work hard for their win as the first major tournament knockout match between the old sporting rivals
Tchouameni’s thunderbolt
France went ahead after 17 minutes when, after a length-of-the-field break, Antoine Griezmann rolled the ball invitingly into the path of Tchouameni, whose 25-yard low shot flew just inside the post.
England eventually got going, pushing and probing, and France keeper Hugo Lloris was quick off his line to save at the feet of Kane and then parried another drive from England’s captain.
Lloris was in action again at the start of the second half, tipping a fierce Jude Bellingham shot over the bar.
The dangerous Bukayo Saka was then tripped by Tchouameni and Kane smashed the penalty high beyond his Tottenham Hotspur teammate Lloris to draw level with Wayne Rooney as England’s record scorer on 53 goals.
Buoyed by the goal England, were playing with huge confidence but although centre-back Harry Maguire brushed a post with a header they could not make their dominance count.
England eventually got going, pushing and probing, and France keeper Hugo Lloris was quick off his line to save at the feet of Kane and then parried another drive from England’s captain.
France are now one win away from becoming the first back-to-back finalists since Brazil in 2002
Kane’s first penalty high beyond his Tottenham Hotspur teammate Lloris drew him level with Wayne Rooney as England’s record scorer on 53 goals.
Griezmann went past Thierry Henry as his country’s top assist provider with 28 and became the first French player to provide two assists in a knockout round game of the World Cup since Dominique Rocheteau against Italy in 1986 (Round of 16).
*********************************************************************
Readers
These are extraordinary times. All of us have to rely on high-impact, trustworthy journalism. And this is especially true of the Indian Diaspora. Members of the Indian community overseas cannot be fed with inaccurate news.
Pravasi Samwad is a venture that has no shareholders. It is the result of an impassioned initiative of a handful of Indian journalists spread around the world. We have taken the small step forward with the pledge to provide news with accuracy, free from political and commercial influence. Our aim is to keep you, our readers, informed about developments at ‘home’ and across the world that affect you.
Please help us to keep our journalism independent and free.
In these difficult times, to run a news website requires finances. While every contribution, big or small, will makes a difference, we request our readers to put us in touch with advertisers worldwide. It will be a great help.
For more information: pravasisamwad00@gmail.com