Samuel Umtiti header leaves France one step from World Cup heaven
They’ll probably say they were here. They might even produce a ticket stub to prove their case. But they weren’t.
About a half hour in on an oddly still, subdued night on the edge of the Baltic Sea, there was a sense that the thousands who had left swathes of Saint Petersburg Stadium bare with empty seats would live to regret it as long as they lived.
France and Belgium, in particular, were serving up a semi-final of bewitching quality. It was an awesomely absorbing contest as Roberto Martinez’s side tried every key that jangled on their hips to unlock the tournament’s finest defence.
France looked just as threatening when they had the opportunities to break and if the game had grown in that regard it would likely have been a classic.
But it didn’t. The first half tapered off and while Belgium came out and served up an early signal of fixing one of the glaring flaws of the first half and getting Romelu Lukaku more involved, France then grabbed the opener courtesy of Samuel Umtiti and smothered the contest.
Samuel Umtiti would grab the semi-final’s only goal from yet another well-worked but ultimately simplistic set piece.
But the Barcelona man’s real work was at the back where he and Raphael Varane snuffed out so much of the danger that Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard tried to bring to proceedings.
In front of them, the odd couple who look a match made in heaven — Paul Pogba and Ngolo Kante — were again imperious. A little further forward, Olivier Giroud carthorsed like a dream. He’s going to have to start paying Stephane Guivarc’h royalties. Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann buzzed like they can and that would be enough.
Like the icons of 1998, Didier Deschamps’ France of 2018 have supreme attacking quality and incision but don’t go wasting a drop of it. On home soil 20 years ago, they won two knock-out games by a single goal and another on penalties. Here in Russia they’ve won two by the bare minimum and didn’t exert themselves too much against Uruguay either.
Now they head for Moscow with a chance to keep a close eye on tonight’s proceedings at the Luzhniki first. So confident, so assured are this side, that they’re unlikely to be too put out by anything they see tonight.
This shaped as something of a referendum on two managers who split opinions like few in the international game. The argument goes this way: Deschamps doesn’t get nearly enough out of a squad brimming with so much, instead living only for the result as an almost soulless end. On the flipside, Martinez tries to extract a little too much out of the gifted Belgian generation he inherited, leaving them too open to surrendering to the kind of defeats that don’t befit such a talented outfit.
As if to back up the thesis, Deschamps recalled Blaise Matuidi to firm up his midfield while Martinez dealt with the suspension of Thomas Meunier by seeming to abandon a back four, his decision to bring Moussa Dembele in leading to feverish debate about whether he was reshaping the team dramatically from the formation that had held up so well against Brazil.
Turned out he would largely stick to that same gameplan, Nacer Chadli slotting in on the right side of a back four when Belgium had to defend but free to bomb forward when they were in possession. That would turn out to be a very frequent occurrence in a breathtakingly good opening half hour.
From the off — once given an indecently early scare by Kylian Mbappe — Belgium’s key men were on their game, Hazard and De Bruyne carrying the fight to the French on each flank. The captain was particularly locked in, roasting Benjamin Pavard on a couple of occasions.
So high was the quality that just 30 minutes in, we wondered if a classic was in the offing. There was Hazard buzzing and bearing down. Then the eyes were dragged to the other end where Paul Pogba was majestically striding forward and spearing through balls.
Back at the other end De Bruyne was flashing a shot past Lloris’s far post. But France would break again and the excellent Matuidi would try to lay one on a plate for Olivier Giroud.
It was pulsating. But it became a bit too…well…pleasant. The final flourish wasn’t there, the exact incision needed to open the scoring. By the time we hit the interval we’d been thoroughly entertained but in truth were none the wiser as to how it would go.
We knew a couple of important points however: France’s threat on the break was very real. And at the other end, Belgium needed to get their most devastating weapon, Lukaku, more into things.
A minute after the break a first dangerous cross almost found Lukaku. Belgium could have been motoring. Instead France accelerated ahead and then blocked off all routes.
Umtiti’s winner came courtesy of a clever run but no more. He met Griezmann’s delivery with emphatic power.
Belgium tried to find the same fluidity from earlier but France were in spoiler mode now and nothing seemed to come off. If anything, and in spite of a lengthy spell of injury time, the contest rolled to an inevitable conclusion.
Deschamps side march on Moscow having conceded a goal in open play to just one opponent in the entire tournament. They have more than enough talent to pull away to a similar degree as the boys of 98 did against Brazil in that decider.
Then again, they may not even have to.
Courtois 6; Chadli 5 (Batshuayi 90), Alderweireld 6, Kompany 6, Vertonghen 6; Witsel 6, Fellaini 6 (Carrasco 80), Dembélé 4 (Mertens 59 6); De Bruyne 6, Lukaku 4, E.Hazard 6.
Lloris 8; Pavard 7, Varane 8, Umtiti 8, L.Hernandez 7; Pogba 7, Kanté 7, Matuidi 8 (Tolisso 87); Mbappé 8, Giroud 7 (Nzonzi 85), Griezmann 7.
Andres Cunha (Uruguay)
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