Classy France too slick for Uruguay to set up St Petersburg semi-final

Posted Saturday, July 07, 2018 by PA

France became the first side to book their place in the 2018 World Cup semi-finals with a comfortable 2-0 win over Uruguay in Nizhny Novgorod.

The South Americans huffed and puffed but never really troubled the 1998 champions who advanced thanks to goals from Raphael Varane and Antoine Griezmann, his third of the tournament.

They can now look forward to a semi-final in St Petersburg on Tuesday against the winner of Friday’s late quarter-final between Brazil and Belgium.

Full-time! Les Bleus advance to the @FIFAWorldCup semi-finals! 👊🇫🇷#FiersdetreBleus #WorldCup #URUFRA pic.twitter.com/jhhLwrTPxv
— French Team (@FrenchTeam) July 6, 2018

Uruguay fans outnumbered their French counterparts in the very blue-and-white stadium by at least 10 to one and that advantage certainly told during the national anthems.

But while they sang their hearts out they must also have known that France had just received a major boost with the news that Paris St Germain star Edinson Cavani would be sitting on the bench and not terrorising their defence.

Uruguay’s two-goal hero in the last round against Portugal had failed to recover from the calf injury that saw him limp off, with Cristiano Ronaldo’s help, which meant former Middlesbrough striker Cristhian Stuani would be alongside nuisance-in-chief Luis Suarez.

Stuani is a better player than he showed on Teesside – he scored 19 goals for Girona last season – but he is not as good as Cavani.

The @Budweiser #ManoftheMatch for #URUFRA was @FrenchTeam''s @AntoGriezmann! #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/D3kjMOeq8q
— FIFA World Cup 🏆 (@FIFAWorldCup) July 6, 2018

So it was no real surprise to see Uruguay’s bright start fizzle out after about 10 minutes and France’s more cultured midfield begin to take control, with N’Golo Kante busily recycling the ball and Paul Pogba and Griezmann looking to get Kylian Mbappe away down the right.

And the first big chance fell to France’s man of the moment. Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud found him all alone, six yards out, with a lovely cushioned header but Mbappe mistimed his leap and headed wastefully over.

Not a great deal happened for the next 25 minutes. France were the better team but Uruguay were resolute and relatively unruffled, which is why the goal they conceded in the 40th minute will annoy them so much.

Griezmann’s freekick from 40 yards out was well delivered but, for once, Diego Godin and co were beaten to the header by another defender, the classy Varane, who glanced it expertly past Fernando Muslera.

In the easy half of the draw, France have taken the lead against Uruguay.
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) July 6, 2018

‘La Celeste’ are nothing if not resilient, though, and they nearly equalised just before the break with a carbon-copy goal. This time, however, Hugo Lloris produced a magnificent save to deny Martin Caceres’ header.

The two-time world champions started the second half well, too, and with Maximiliano Gomez and the lively Cristian Rodriguez and coming on for the disappointing Stuani and cautioned Rodrigo Betancur on the hour, it looked like they might get back into it.

But then disaster struck. France had not got going at all but Pogba found Griezmann about 25 yards out and he pulled the trigger. It was certainly travelling but it was straight at Muslera and should have been a routine save.

The first goal key in the game ! It took the sting and energy out of Uruguay. Pity Cavani wasn’t fit! France worthy winners after that..
— Gary Neville (@GNev2) July 6, 2018

The Galatatasary goalkeeper got it horribly wrong, though, and the ball squirted through his gloves to double France’s lead with under half an hour to play.

Rodriguez nearly got one back with a shot just wide following a corner but the game then entered a bad-tempered spell, with Uruguay accusing Mbappe of play-acting and the teenager annoyed at their attempts to drag him to his feet. He was carded for his reaction.

Uruguay threw everything at France late on, including defender Jose Gimenez as an auxiliary attacker, but Didier Deschamps’ men soaked it all up without any alarm.

And by the end Les Blues, wearing white here, looked every part a potential world champion.