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World Cup semi-finals are exciting affairs, but they are usually not very high-scoring. France vs Belgium was no exception as the semi-final had everything: two teams that gave it their all, France’s resolute defending, Eden Hazard’s dribbling, Kylian Mbappe’s dynamism, missed chances and some disciplinary tension at the end. So what were some of the winners and losers from the first semi-final of the World Cup?
Winner- French Defence
It is very rare that one sees an almost-perfect defensive effort exemplified by every single player on the team. Didier Deschamps set out his team to primarily defend, as 29% of the action occurred in France’s third. Belgium began brilliantly as the likes of Eden Hazard, Romelu Lukaku and Kevin De Bruyne laid siege to the French goal. Lesser defences would have buckled under this pressure, but Les Blues were simply too good as they repelled attack after attack.
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The same was true after France scored the opener in the early stages of the second half. After this point, Belgium pressed forward with greater urgency as Roberto Martinez made three very attacking substitutions. However, no matter the number of attackers on the pitch, France’s defence had an answer to every question.
Raphael Varane was particularly brilliant in the centre of the park, as he made six clearances in the semi-final. Similarly excellent was Lucas Hernandez who did a brilliant job of containing Kevin De Bruyne throughout the game. While Benjamin Pavard was often put on skates by Eden Hazard, he recovered on enough occasions to stop the Chelsea winger. Did I mention Samuel Umtiti, who was imperious at the back and also scored the winning goal?
Loser- Belgian Midfield
Yesterday was supposed to be Mousa Dembele’s day. Throughout this tournament, several fans have called on Belgian manager Martinez to be more pragmatic and play the central midfielder. In the semi-final though, Martinez gave the Tottenham midfielder the opportunity to play the biggest game of his career. Yet, Dembele had a horrid game as he was overrun by Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante. The usually dynamic midfielder made no key passes, dribbles or tackles. He also made several unnecessary and was lucky not to be booked.
Yet, Dembele was not the only Belgian midfielder to have a torrid game. Marouane Fellaini was unable to match his excellent performance against Brazil. In fact, the Manchester United midfielder was at fault for Umtiti’s goal as he failed to mark the Barcelona defender for the goal. Even Axel Witsel did not have his usual defensive impact on the game. Overall, the trio failed to stop French counter-attacks on numerous occasions and were primarily at fault for the Red Devils’ loss.
Winner- Blaise Matuidi
Many observers (including yours truly) have criticised French manager Didier Deschamps for playing a natural defensive midfielder like Blaise Matuidi as a left-winger. Last night, Matuidi proved all of us wrong and Deschamps right with an imperious performance.
The Juventus midfielder was brilliant on the counter-attack as he took advantage of Belgium’s rather weak defence, making two key passes that led to chances for his teammates. Matuidi’s activity on the attack also enabled Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann to create several chances.
Yet, Matuidi also displayed the reason why Deschamps prefers him: his defensive effort as he made an incredible six tackles and three interceptions in the game. Matuidi also nullified the dribbling and crossing ability of Nacer Chadli.
Belgium kept forcing the ball to Chadli, who only completed one out of his 11 successful crosses (shout out to Ryan O’Hanlon for pointing out that stat on Ringer FC) simply because of Matuidi’s pressure. Matuidi was also brilliant in closing down Belgium’s most creative player Kevin De Bruyne especially in the second half. Matuidi might miss the final due to a possible concussion but his brilliance was the reason that Les Blues made it there.
Loser- Olivier Giroud
This really should have been a thrashing. While Belgium dominated possession and most of the game was spent in France’s third, it was France who created far better chances. In fact, according to Caley Graphics, France had 1.8 expected goals (a statistic that measures the quality of chances created by a team) with the Umtiti goal actually being one of their harder chances. However, there was one reason why France were not able to capitalise on their chances: Oliver Giroud.
Giroud missed chance after chance to put the game away as he took six shots, none of which were on target. In fact, Giroud still hasn’t had a shot on target in the entire tournament despite playing as a striker for a team that includes Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann and Paul Pogba.
There were several occasions on which Mbappe and Griezmann combined to tee up a perfect chance for Giroud only for the Chelsea striker to miss. Deschamps should consider playing Mbappe down the middle and using another winger instead of the wasteful Giroud.
Winner- The Goalkeepers
In the quarter-finals, Hugo Lloris and Thibaut Courtois were brilliant as their dominant performances between the sticks helped their teams progress to the quarter-finals. Lloris made one particularly great save from Martin Caceres which would have equalised for Uruguay. Courtois was brilliant throughout as he repelled Brazil on numerous occasions.
Yet, both of these goalkeepers were even better in the semi-finals. At the beginning when Belgium was dominating, Lloris made several great stops to repel the Red Devils, including an outstretched save to prevent Toby Alderweireld from giving Belgium the lead. Courtois matched his French counterpart when he made an exceptional save from Benjamin Pavard’s shot.
Lloris continued his performance after Umtiti’s goal, saving a brilliant Axel Witsel screamer. Courtois also denied Les Blues on the counter on several occasions especially in injury time when he made a brilliant save from substitute Corentin Tolisso. During this World Cup, much of the attention has been on penalty heroics from the likes of Jordan Pickford and Danijel Subasic. Yesterday, Lloris and Courtois showed that they may be the two best goalkeepers at the tournament.
