Through a mouse hole. Belgium won 1 goal to 0, Monday 1is July, the tricolors are in the quarter-finals of Euro 2024. If the essential is assured for Didier Deschamps’ men, they still lacked efficiency in the final move (19 shots of which only two were on target)! The Blues will meet the winner of the Portugal-Slovenia duel on July 5.
A non-match on both sides
After a shower of yellow cards, more or less justified, in the first 25 minutes on the blue side, we could have feared the worst. During a first half where the two teams were wary of each other, the French team had possession of the ball and the most obvious chances. A domination that was reflected in a figure: France attempted 9 shots in the first half, its highest total without scoring in the first 45 minutes of a match since the match against Denmark at the 2022 World Cup.
In this very tight match, Aurélien Tchouameni’s last shot after a festival of dribbling by Kylian Mbappé could have hit the target (44e), but the Real Madrid midfielder completely missed his shot, which flew well above Koen Casteels’ goal.
Salvation came from the bench
At the restart, the same Tchouameni attempted a shot from outside the area (48e) which this time required a save from the Belgian goalkeeper. It was the first clear opportunity for the French side. Very lively and still masked after his broken nose, French captain Kylian Mbappé did it again a few minutes later, after a classy slalom in the Belgian area (52e). Here again, individual initiative was not enough, leading to fears of another frustrating match for the French attack. Worse, without a great Mike Maignan, decisive in particular on a great attempt by Kevin De Bruyne (83e), France could have been led in the score.
We finally had to wait until 86e minute and a well-crafted team move to see Randal Kolo Muani, who came on 25 minutes earlier to replace Marcus Thuram, save the Blues. A pivot shot from the Paris Saint-Germain striker was deflected by the knee of the unfortunate Belgian defender Jan Vertonghen, beating his goalkeeper who had already dived. The only goal of the match will also be counted as an own goal. Having already beaten Austria thanks to an own goal in the group stage, France therefore defies – rather sadly – the statistics by reaching the quarter-finals having scored… only one goal (a penalty from Mbappé against Poland).
In the quarter-finals, the Blues will meet the winners of the match against Portugal, 6e nation in the Fifa ranking, and Slovenia (57e). In the event of qualification in the last four, Antoine Griezmann’s teammates will then have to challenge the winner of the Spain-Germany clash to hope to glimpse the final.
The Red Devils, for their part, fell very early in this Euro given their third place in the Fifa rankings. They did less well than in the previous Euro 2021 (defeat in the quarter-final against Italy), and still have not taken their revenge on the semi-final lost against the Blues, by the same score, at the 2018 World Cup.
