Chelsea In Qatar – England v France
England 0 – 0 France
(Quarter-finals, Al Bayt Stadium, 10/12/2022)
This is the first meeting of the old enemies in a World Cup Finals, both managers name unchanged sides from there last matches, so no Chelsea players on the pitch for the start.
France win the battle of the Anthems with a rousing version of the Marseillaise.
4 mins Dembele goes in hard on Bellingham leading to a free-kick its put into the area, but Maguire is offside.
10 minutes and the first real chance of the game is a header on goal
14 minutes Rabiot wins the ball in Midfield and France break.
16 minutes and Saka is fouled nothing given and France break upfield, Tchouameni scores from a Griezmann cross 1-0 to Les Blues. Pickford had no chance.
20 minutes and England get a free-kick, Shaw puts the ball through the wall and straight into the arms of Lloris.
22 mins Lloris stops a strike by Kane.
25 mins Harry Kane goes down as his legs are caught by xx, it’s not given, although VAR are now checking. It’s not given.
28 mins Kane has another crack from distance saved by Lloris. England have been the better team since the goal.
42 minutes and the first yellow is shown to Griezmann as he stops Kyle Walker in his tracks.
No changes at half time
After the restart he’s quickly followed into the book by Dembele for a foul on Bellingham.
England win a corner from which Bellingham has a good strike tipped over by Lloris, and from the resulting corner Maguire gets a head in which is caught at the 2nd attempt by Lloris.
49 mins Mbappe goes down a bit easily for a little ankle tap by Henderson and France have a dangerous Free-kick, it comes to nothing.
51 minutes and England win a penalty after a foul by Tchouameni on Saka. Kane steps up and puts it in the net. 1-1
Kane has the England goal scoring record, as Giroud does for France.
54 mins a great break straight through the middle by Rabiot sees him shoot, but Pickford is equal to it.
55 minutes and Mbappe wins a foot race with walker and gets his cross in, but its missed in the centre of the goal.
69 minutes Saka wins a free-kick. The ball is put into the area and Maguire hits the outside of the post with a header.
71 minutes another good break by England, Shaw puts in a good cross for Saka who mis-kicks it and it goes wide.
74 Mason Mount is warming up.
76 Giroud has a good chance to put the French ahead from a cross by Dembele, but Pickford is equal to it and makes a good save.
Two minutes later he makes amends as his bullet header meets an excellent cross from Griezmann for his 53rd goal for Les Bleus, 2-1
79 mins and Chelsea duo Sterling and Mount are brought on to replace Saka and Henderson.
80 mins and Mount is barged over by Hernandez in the the area, no penalty given by the Brazilian ref, the English players protest, it goes to VAR, the referee goes to the pitch-side screen, and its given. After further english protests he books Hernandez who wasn’t even watching the ball when he deliberately took out Mount. Up steps Kane and he gets it horribly wrong and fires the ball over the bar.
84 mins and Rashford replaces Foden.
88mins Mount has a dig from range but its well over.
89 mins Maguire is booked for an elbow on Griezmann.
8 mins of extra time can England get a breakthrough.
A corner comes to nothing
95 mins and Stones goes down as Giroud stamps on his foot as they tussle for a ball. He is replaced by Grealish after some treatment.
100 minutes England win a free-kick in a good place. It’s lined up by Rashford, but he hits it agonizingly just over the bar.
England: Pickford, Walker, Stones, Maguire, Shaw, Henderson, Rice, Bellingham, Saka, Kane, Foden.
Subs: Grealish, Sterling, Rashford, Trippier, Pope, Phillips, Dier, Coady, Alexander-Arnold, Mount, Ramsdale, Wilson, Maddison, Gallagher.
France: Lloris, Kounde, Varane, Upamecano, Theo Hernandez, Tchouameni, Rabiot, Dembele, Griezmann, Mbappe, Giroud.
Subs: Pavard, Disasi, Guendouzi, Muani, Fofana, Veretout, Mandanda, Saliba, Coman, Areola, Konate, Camavinga, Thuram.
Referee: Wilton Sampaio (Brazil).
Posted by the CSG’s World Cup Willie
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