France are through to the World Cup semi-finals after they defeated Uruguay 2-0. Goals by Griezman and Varane won the tie. The game was very dire, with neither side fully committing to attack before Varane’s goal.
Uruguay were without Edison Cavani. The PSG striker missed out through injury. Cristian Stuani came in to replace the striker, however, the Girona attacker is nowhere near the level of Cavani and Uruguay severely missed his presence.
France Beat Uruguay to Reach Semi-Finals
Les Bleus Edge First Half
France entered into halftime 1-0 up. Les Bleus opened the scoring in the 40th minute. Real Madrid centre-back, Raphael Varane nodded the hosts in front. The defender got on the end of an Antoine Griezmann free kick to give the Europeans the lead, with their first shot on target.
Uruguay nearly equalized just before the break. Tottenham goalkeeper, Hugo Lloris, produced one of the saves of the tournament to deny a header from Uruguayan full-back Martin Caceres.
Fellow Uruguayan defender, Diego Godin, then blasted over the rebound from under three yards out, to produce one of the misses of the tournament. A very boring game had sprung into life just before the interval.
Griezmann Strike Kills Tie
Atletico Madrid striker Antoine Griezmann doubled the French lead on the hour mark. His strike from just outside the area was parried into his own goal by Uruguayan goalkeeper Muslera.
Griezmann was too embarrassed to celebrate following the howler from the Uruguay goalkeeper. Apart from a flare up which almost resulted in a mass brawl between the two sides, after a Kylian Mbappe dive enraged the Uruguayan players, the game fizzled out to a non-eventful conclusion.
France’s game management was excellent and did not give Uruguay the faintest sniff of a comeback. They will now face Belgium in the World Cup semi-final.
France will hope to add to their solitary World Cup triumph and judging by their form through the knock out rounds so far, very few would bet against them doing so.
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