4) France created more chances in the game
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The onus of the loss is completely on France as they failed to capitalise on some wonderful chances that they created during the first half of the game. In the end, France was out possessed and out passed and lethargic as the game drew a close. It might be possible that France wanted to see the game through to a penalty shootout and it is this attitude that Portugal was eventually able to take advantage of.
The brief periods that France had possession were times they maneuvered the ball beautifully only to be stopped by a strong and virtually impenetrable defence, whereas all Portugal seemed to do was pass the ball. Their safety-first attitude was prevalent throughout the game.
After Antoine Griezmann's misdirected header which left Portugal feeling incredibly lucky, the other big chance for France came when Kingsley Coman provided a pass to Olivier Giroud who failed to finish big and become a hero for his country.
Portugal's first shot on target came in the 80th minute just before Bacary Sanga's pass to Griezmann and Andre-Pierre Gignac's unbelievable miss saw the scoreline remain 0-0 as the game slipped into extra time.
No chances created, the team seemed to survive more on missed chances by the opposition than anything else.
