Defending champions France are through to the FIFA World Cup semi-finals after beating England 2-1 in their quarterfinal clash at Al Bayt Stadium in Qatar on Saturday night.
They will now meet Morocco in the last four after earlier in the evening, the Atlas Lions had stunned Portugal 1-0 to become the first African team in history to reach the semis.
It was an exciting start to the match at Al Bayt, with the defending champions showing the early momentum.
And they would take the lead in the 18th minute, thanks to a fantastic strike from Aurelien Tchouameni, his well-struck effort from outside the area flying low past Jordan Pickford. It was Tchouameni’s first goal at the tournament.
There was a slight controversy as the English felt there had been a foul on Bukayo Saka a few seconds prior to the goal, but the officials waved play on.
The English looked to hit back immediately but weren’t successful though the French survived a few scares in the ten minutes that followed the goal. At the half-time break, Tchouameni’s goal separated the two teams.
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England came out in the second half hunting the equaliser, and they were rewarded when goalscorer Tchouameni went from hero to villain and fouled Saka in the box in the 52nd minute.
Harry Kane stepped up to take the penalty kick and fired in past Tottenham teammate Hugo Lloris to level the scores. That goal saw Kane become tied for all-time England leading goalscorer with Wayne Rooney.
It set up an intriguing second half as both teams pushed for the winner, with momentum swinging to and fro, and chances coming at both ends to win the game.
And while Pickford made a good save to deny Olivier Giroud in the 77th minute, France’s all-time leading goalscorer was not to be denied a minute later, and he headed in Antoine Griezmann’s cross to give the defending champions the 2-1 lead.
But more drama followed in the 81st minute as England were rewarded a penalty after VAR intervention for a clumsy foul by Theo Hernandez.
Kane stepped up again, but this time – with a chance to level matters and take the England goalscoring record all to himself – incredibly fluffed his kick and blasted over the goal.
The miss seemed to take the wind out of England’s sails, but in the dying minutes of stoppage time, England were rewarded a dangerous free kick.
Marcus Rashford’s attempt went narrowly over, skimming the top of the net, and France held out for the win to keep their hopes of defending their title.
