England 1-2 France
Oliver Giroud sent France into a World Cup semi-final meeting with Morocco as his late header after Aurelien Tchouameni’s opener clinched a 2-1 win against England as Harry Kane blazed a penalty over the bar six minutes from time on Saturday.
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 goalscorer along the way.
France are now one win away from becoming the first back-to- back finalists since Brazil in 2002 and two from becoming the third team to retain the trophy after Brazil in 1962 and Italy in 1938.
“It’s extraordinary, we worked a lot in defence and in the end we managed to threaten,” 36-year-old Giroud said.
“We knew the potential of this young England team. They have everything but we played a solid game, we tried to hurt them on the break. We went for it with all our mental strength.”
France really did have to work hard for their win as the first major tournament knockout match between the two old sporting rivals maintained the excitement of this extraordinary quarter-final weekend.
England played with purpose for long periods and after Kane brought them level from the spot early in the second half they looked the more likely winners.
“It feels like a missed chance because I felt the performances were really good and the focus and the hunger was good every single day,” said England midfielder Jordan Henderson.
“You’ve got to give credit to France, they’re a good team, but I think I felt it was there for us to win tonight.”
