England bowed out of the World Cup quarter-finals with a 2-1 defeat to reigning champions France on Saturday night.
Gareth Southgate’s assistant Steve Holland warned that this would be a “50-50 game”. It proved to be a prescient prediction of the narrow difference between the sides – and Harry Kane’s success rate from the penalty spot.
Either side of half-time France took the lead before granting England a chance to level from 12 yards. Kane confidently dispatched his first spot kick shortly after the interval but uncharacteristically blazed over his second attempt, condemning the Three Lions to a premature exit despite an impressive display for large spells.
Dayot Upamecano robbed Bukayo Saka and led a charge downfield in the 17th minute. England’s rearguard hurriedly scurried back, frantically trying to funnel white shirts around Kylian Mbappe and then Ousmane Dembele.
Amid the frenzy, Antoine Griezmann – in the mood to spot gaps tricky to see from a bird’s eye view – rolled a pass to Tchouameni with enough time and space to let rip from 26 metres, whizzing the ball between Jude Bellingham’s legs and into the bottom corner.
England reacted well to falling behind for the first time at this World Cup. Twice in quick succession midway through the first half, Harry Kane pinned Upamecano, spinning towards goal. Hugo Lloris denied England’s skipper with a smothering save before Upamecano became entangled with Kane right on the edge of the box, surviving a VAR review.
The threat posed by the world champions in transition always lingered but it was England that took the game to France. Lloris was far busier than Jordan Pickford, tipping away a fizzing effort from Bellingham before he was eye-to-eye with his Tottenham teammate from 12 yards.
Within ten minutes of the restart, Saka wriggled into the French box, tiptoeing along the edge of the area until Tchouameni stuck out a lazy leg. Kane placed the ball on the spot – and then had to do so again as his kick was delayed – before blasting his penalty into the top corner.
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The French camp underlined the importance of set pieces before the contest, lauding England’s threat from this area. Harry Maguire almost justified those fears but grazed the outside of the post with his header….
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