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At the final whistle, the pocket of the French fans behind the goal on the far left, with their tricolores and memories of 1998, could celebrate another triumphal night. France has arrived at the final of the World Cup and will surely want to regain its coveted gold title Sunday in Moscow. The players in blue kissed while a Belgian team of 10 players in the Premier League wondered if the time would come for their golden generation.
The sad truth is that it may not be so Let Russia leave with a lot of good memories, keeping in mind that Roberto Martínez's men eliminated Brazil to reach this halfway point. final and contributed so richly to what is widely acclaimed as the most appealing World Cup in memory. Here, however, they have not been able to start from an encouraging start and have come up against a superior mix, perhaps, to find the right balance between attack and defense.
That will make France formidable opponents Sunday. No matter whether it is England or Croatia that provide the opposition, and amid all their euphoria, it should also be noted that they have already shown in this competition that they can to be more dangerous than what sometimes appeared in this victory
. There were still times when it was very clear that the team of Didier Deschamps should be considered the favorite to raise the trophy. Samuel Umtiti scored the decisive goal of a corner but the persistent memory could well be the return of Kylian Mbappé to give Olivier Giroud another chance to score later in the second half. If England can return to Moscow for the final, it will be a challenge to keep this brilliant young player.
Here too, irrefutable evidence that Gareth Southgate's team should probably be relieved to have avoided this semifinal. the drawing. For Belgium, Kevin De Bruyne added his elegant touches and Eden Hazard twinkled with threat. France had the frightening rhythm of Mbappé and the subtle brilliance of Antoine Griezmann. Hazard seemed absolutely determined to light up the semifinal. De Bruyne was the same thing and there was no doubt that Belgium looked more menacing.
Similarly, there was always the danger of the French counter-attack and the overwhelming feeling every time Mbappé gained momentum. speed, openness and raw power, that everything was possible.
Mbappé has the rare ability to electrify a crowd in a way that only elite players can do it and, if at all, France does not have it. not sufficiently challenged. Hazard could do the same for Belgium and the natural instinct of his teammates was to go left looking for the Chelsea player. De Bruyne had more floating role, drifting from the other side, and it is a measure of the Belgian threat that Deschamps had modified the French system to lessen the chances of being open.
This meant that Blaise Matuidi was playing in a more retired role than the one he played in France's previous matches. Griezmann took a left-wing role, rather than playing like a No. 10 clbadic, and it was a cautious start in which France operated, for the most part, on the counter and held a deep line when Belgium had the ball. Many teams may have tried to lobby and harbad. France chose a more restrained approach and it is only towards the last stages of the first half that they began to be a threat on their part.
Perhaps they would have been more daring from the start. Nacer Chadli, operating on the right and center right, Jan Vertonghen, on the other side of the defense. Vertonghen, in particular, saw his work cut, given that Mbappé was his direct opponent.
France could have taken its time to go, but they would eventually discover – as many teams once. did in the Premier League – that Martínez's teams often tend to be vulnerable in the back.
The goal of Umtiti, six minutes after the end of the second half, was the case. Many goals in this tournament come from turns and, although it shows the benefits of ground-training exercises, the flip side is that the teams have defended themselves too generously from these games.
The most surprising thing was to see Marouane Fellaini lose in the air. Griezmann swung the ball from the right and Umtiti had the race on his marker. The ball took off from her forehead but she also touched Fellaini's hair before escaping Thibaut Courtois in the Belgian goal
Courtois had already dismissed Benjamin Parvard, the right-back of France, when of this first French push. Towards the end of the first half, Belgium, which had started so well, was struggling to regain its fluidity of yesteryear.
One less goal, they had to start finding more precision with their pbades. But the most surprising part was their reaction to their delay and their inability to create equalization opportunities.
Even De Bruyne began to look a little wild, letting flying from a distance and sending a desperate shot into the crowd. Romelu Lukaku had a tough match and Corentin Tolisso, one of France's substitutes, had the chance to score again in the final exchanges
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