The last remaining ticket for the semi-final has been booked.
France’s quest to repeat as World Cup champions continued after they overcame England 2-1 in a thriller in the quarter-finals.
Both Gareth Southgate and Didier Deschamps went off with unchanged starting elevens from their round of 16 victories.
England maintained their 4-3-3 formation with Phil Foden on the left wing and Jordan Henderson in the box-to-box right midfield role. France kept their 4-2-3-1 hybrid formation with Antoine Griezmann free roaming.
As expected, England controlled possession in the early stages with a 3-2-5 formation against France’s central 4-4-2 with passive pressing. In the 15th minute, right-back Kyle Walker, who tackled Kylian Mbappé, exploited the right-half space between Mbappé and left-back Theo Hernández. But he doesn’t cross the ball in the penalty area and Mbappé breaks free on the counterattack.
The French superstar drew three English defenders down the left wing before heading the ball out to the right, where Griezmann casually dropped the ball to Aurélien Tchouaméni for a amazing strike from distance from outside the area in the 17th minute.
England ramped up the intensity from then on, with Harry Kane grabbing two good chances against French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, the two are also teammates at Tottenham in the English Premier League. Lloris managed to get two crucial saves to keep the score 1-0 at half-time.
The Three Lions kept up the pressure early in the second half when Jude Bellingham saw his right-footed half-volley from just outside the penalty area tipped over by Lloris.
Ultimately it was the magic of Bukayo Saka and Bellingham down the right wing that set up England’s first goal. A deft one-two passing move between the two forced Tchouaméni into a dangerous tackle on Saka inside the box, and Harry Kane got close to the penalty spot with a convincing penalty conversion past Lloris.
France struggled to keep the ball going with the England press making Les Bleus uncomfortable. Mbappé couldn’t do much against braces the Three Lions were reportedly throwing at him, and England almost took the lead at the other end when Harry Maguire’s header from Jordan Henderson’s free-kick just cleared the post left.
That bit Maguire just eight minutes later, when Olivier Giroud beat him from Griezmann’s cross for a header in the 78th minutegiving France a 2-1 lead.
The pressure returned to England to equalize again despite being the better team throughout, but Southgate substituted Saka in the 79th minute for Raheem Sterling and Jordan Henderson for Mason Mount carried off his top threats down the right side.
But Mount won a vital penalty after Hernández delivered a reckless elbow to his back inside the box, and Kane had a chance to score two penalties in one match. However, he sailed this over the bar, and the Three Lions had no other key chances to equalize after Marcus Rashford’s late free kick just flew over the right far post.
Most of the stats – shots, shots on goal, possession, passing, passing accuracy, expected goals – went England’s way, but they didn’t build up the momentum to find the second after Kane’s strike before Giroud cost the team.
France are now advancing to their seventh all-time World Cup semi-final, and it is the second time they have done so in consecutive tournaments (1982/1986).
For Les Bleus to reach the final, they will need to beat team of destiny Morocco in the semi-final on Wednesday, December 14 at 2:00 PM ET, 11:00 AM PT.
