Goals from Tchouaméni and Giroud eliminate the British team from the World Cup, which saw its captain Harry Kane score a penalty and miss another
The defending champion will face Morocco in the semifinals
Argentina trembles, Brazil perishes, so does Portugal. This World Cup embraces confusion and breaks hierarchical codes, but France does not allow itself to be subjected to any law other than its own, resistant to curses of the champion, solid like no other team just two seasons from the final destination. England proposed to him this Saturday a beautiful football fight, one of the best that has been experienced in recent weeks on Qatari soil, but the selection of Deschamps emerged victorious from it.
It would not have been unfair if anyone who came across the cheeky Morocco next Wednesday (8:00 p.m.) out England, but the air blows in favor of France in this championship. On a not at all dazzling day of mbappeknew how to use other weapons, Tchouaméni, Griezmann and Giroud, and celebrated the inexperience of kane to score the second of the penalties available to him. England has nothing to reproach its captain, who is also his heart. He pumped blood so many times for everyone else that everything about him is forgivable, no matter how much the consequence is elimination from the World Cup.
France took advantage, albeit symbolic, from the start. Mbappé started jogging in the direction of the goal of pickford before the referee even started the game. The French totem seemed in a hurry to uncork the night at Al Bayt, a stadium that represents like no other the ostentation and expense of Qatar for this World Cup, raised in the shape of a huge tent in the middle of sandy nothingness, surrounded by palatial gardens, ornamental designer fountains and decorative sheds.
In Mbappé, on the other hand, nothing is contingent, since the slightest movement of his legs raises the eyebrows of any defense. The one from PSG rarely rides senselessly, although on occasions it may seem so. As in the germ of the French goal, in which he plowed the grass diagonally, with a horizontal course that did not allow him to intuit the danger. But with that movement he crushed the entire English defense in his area, allowing Tchouaméni to pick up the ball up front and break the 0-0 deficit with a powerful and precise blow next to the base of the pole.
Kane to the rescue
Stunned by the setback, England clung to the greatest certainty it has known in decades, a Harry Kane who always raises his hand when volunteers are called for in the face of despondency. The English captain was the one who was in charge of stretching his team (he could have even been the object of a penalty that was not sanctioned as such), with a couple of good approaches, but he missed the help of Bellingham and Fodentoo scattered in the first half, well tied up by the always dense French defensive web.
The activation of the Dortmund midfielder after the break greased England’s reaction, consolidated in a penalty from the scorer Tchouaméni over Saka. Kane put the ball on the cal point, replaced it, looked into his eyes. ‘brother’ Lloris, a decade already side by side at Tottenham and he beat him with his usual effectiveness. With that, his 53rd goal for England, he equaled Rooney as the all-time top scorer for his team.
The game then became tense and dynamic, with alternating chances in both goals, until it was resolved in a stevedores’ duel, which was staged by Giroud and Maguire. The French striker had just warned with a forced shot before which Pickford shone, but after the second there was no acquittal for England. Griezmann took his compass to draw a beautiful delivery in his precision so that his ‘9’ headed on goal, with the involuntary help of Maguire’s elbow making the work of his goalkeeper difficult.
Kane not to the rescue
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Southgate He reacted immediately, executing his first two substitutions in the 79th minute of the game. Sterling and Mount entered and the second of them was immediately decisive. Or so England hoped. Theo Hernández committed a penalty for pushing the Chelsea player, whistled after being checked in the VAR, and Kane had the chance to tie the game again. But this time, after his iron gaze in Lloris’s eyes, a shot was shot into the clouds. His gaze, then, remained fixed on the looms that serve as the bizarre roof of the Al Bayt stands.
England no longer knew how to get up from the blow, barely threatening in a Rashford free kick you didn’t find the right address. The quarterfinals was his last stop in this World Cup. Only France, Morocco, Argentina and Croatia remain in contention. And there can only be one.