Defending champions France moved into the semi-finals of the World Cup in Qatar on Saturday with Olivier Giroud’s header giving Didier Deschamps’ side a late lead and Harry Kane missing from the penalty spot as the 2018 winners secured a 2-1 victory at Al Bayt Stadium.
Kane fired his 84th-minute attempt over the bar having earlier levelled the scores from the spot after Aurelien Tchouameni had given France a 17th minute advantage, only for Olivier Giroud to head in what turned out to be the winner 12 minutes from time.
The French will take on Morocco on Wednesday for a place in next Sunday’s final, where they will face either Argentina or Croatia in the tournament decider.
England go home after Kane missed a penalty that would have seen him become his nation’s all-time leading scorer after he had earlier equalled Wayne Rooney’s record with his 53rd goal for the Three Lions.
“I regret that we gave them a penalty and then another penalty that they missed, but credit to my team,” said France coach Didier Deschamps. “We showed some very good things and we could still be dangerous after the second goal.
“We have very impressive mental strength but to some extent England have that, too. In these very important games it always comes down to very small details and luckily tonight it went our way. You need a bit of luck sometimes.”
Neither side made any changes from their respective wins over Senegal and Poland in the previous round and England started brightly, with Bukayo Saka pressuring the French defence and Phil Foden seeing an early shot blocked on the edge of the area.
But before long the French were troubling England, Ousmane Dembele sending in a cross that Giroud headed straight at Jordan Pickford with France growing in confidence. By the 17th minute that self-assurance had manifest itself into a goal.
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Dayot Upamecano’s dispossession of Saka midway inside the French half set the Bayern Munich defender off on a run that had England back-pedalling before feeding Kylian Mbappe. His gallop across the face of the penalty area ended with Dembele in possession, one more pass found Griezmann and Tchouameni was teed up to thump a vicious strike home from 25 yards.
England’s attempts to respond were fitful. Shaw’s free kick did little to trouble Hugo Lloris while the Tottenham goalkeeper was equal to Kane’s attempt from distance moments later, the Frenchman palming wide for a corner despite his club mate’s effort taking a slight deflection.
France, meanwhile, threatened a second. Jules Kounde marched down the left to set Mbappe up with an opportunity, the Paris Saint-Germain striker uncharacteristically sending his snapshot over from 12 yards out.
Jude Bellingham forced Lloris into action from distance soon after the interval while moments later referee Wilton Sampaio pointed to the spot to reward England’s strong start to the second half, Saka being brought down by Tchouameni following a rapid exchange of passes with Bellingham inside the French area.
Kane’s steeliness of his nerve came to the fore as he levelled, calmly repositioning the ball and waiting an age to strike powerfully past Lloris having already sent the goalkeeper the wrong way.
Pickford then denied Adrien Rabiot’s first-time attempt to restore France’s lead almost immediately while Mbappe blitzed past Kyle Walker only for his reverse pass to be cleared as the game opened up further.
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Harry Maguire headed against the base of the post and Shaw’s low centre bounced to safety off Saka’s shins as England sought the lead, but it was at the other end that the winner was to come.
Giroud had been shackled much of the night by John Stones and Maguire but provided a precursor to his decisive goal, forcing Pickford to push the ball wide after the AC Milan man’s flying volley. From the resulting corner France went ahead.
After circulating the ball, Griezmann’s arcing centre from wide on the left was met firmly by Giroud, the header brushing off Maguire’s shoulder on its way past Pickford.
The drama ramped up further as time ticked down. Theo Hernandez’s barge into the back of substitute Mason Mount belatedly earned England another penalty after a VAR check, but this time Kane – so assured with his previous attempt – drove his penalty high to ensure the country’s wait for a second World Cup win goes on.
“As you’d expect he’s very, very low but he’s got nothing to reproach himself for,” England manager Gareth Southgate said of Kane. “We’re in the position we are as a team because of his leadership, because of his goals over a long period of time.
“The result is the result because of 100 minutes of football and lots of things that happened at both ends of the pitch. We’ve always stuck together as a team. The group of players have been brilliant and we win and lose together, simple as that.”
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