French worldliness & English miss

Les Blues show their all-round game excellence, edge England 2-1 to get one step closer to second straight World Cup crown

France players celebrate after their quarterfinal match against England on Saturday. (Photo | AP)

It's always coming home when it comes to a major men's football championships; Till it's not. Much was made about the England-France quarterfinal, held in the middle of the Qatari desert at the stunning Al Bay Stadium. Much has been written about it since, including a section of the English press focussing on which team played better on the night and how much of a role the referee, Wilson Sampaiao, played in the game. Fact is, France are the better team. From the start of the World Cup here they have been the best team on display. Of course, luck plays a part in a knockout tournament and you need small things to go your way. Small things that often change the course of a game, as well as the outcome.

On Saturday night France played exactly to the plan. They started strong, pushing England's pack and pulling them wide. From Kyle Walker's first tentative defensive header in the 6th minute, which resulted in an audacious reverse helicopter attempt from Olivier Giroud (now 53 goals for France!), it was clear which side would dictate the tempo of the game. And so it went. If you break the game down into 20-25 minute periods, France pressed, got the opener and then sat back and absorbed pressure. They had less control of the ball (less than 35 percent of the first half), yet went into the break 1—0 up courtesy a goal that underlines why talk of a double is real. The move began with a Dayot Upamecano's tackle deep in the France half and boom! The transition was on. Kylian Mbappe cut inside, then played the ball out wide. Antoine Greizmann, who was everywhere on the pitch, pulled the defence wide then cut back inside and Aurelien Tchouameni finally bagged his first World Cup goal with an inch perfect strike from well outside the box. Jordan Pickford was, perhaps, still a little stiff on a chilly desert night but could have done little to save a strike that was perfectly placed. It was a complete team goal.

Young Jules Kounde had a fair assessment of the game. "We certainly didn't do everything well, but we put so much heart, so much desire, there was so much solidarity, a whole group that really wanted to go to the semifinals," he said."We gave everything […] The difference was in the state of mind. I think that since the start of the competition, we have underlined how close this group is on the pitch, and off it too."

"None of us did our jobs the way we were supposed to," the kid told French reporters after the game. France realised they made one mistake more than they should have and got off lucky, without having to go through another 30 or more minutes of football. Giroud, in his usual chill manner, stamped his presence. On TF1, though, he gave a reminder on why he is vital to Didier Deschamps and France. And no, it's not about the goals. If you back at the game you will see how involved Giroud is in everything the team does on both sides of the pitch. He is also always talking to his mates, jumping to their aid when they are brought down, remonstrating with the referee, and doing it all with a smile on his face and the nonchalance that only one with such a chiselled face can carry off.

"We did really well defensively," he said. "Especially after the second goal, we were able to stay united. This game reminds me of Belgium in 2018." There was a brief passage in the first half when Giroud forgot the defensive part and figured the nine others (since Mbappe does not prefer to defend) were enough. England piled on the pressure and almost created some good chances. It didn't happen again.

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State of mind is what it comes down to if you want to win a World Cup. History will be cruel to Harry Kane (who now also has 53 goals for England), despite evidence having surfaced of him practicing kicking balls high into the stands. The England captain led this team, including some precocious talents and extremely likeable humans, as far as their minds allowed. From the time the first ball was kicked, maybe even before, England were just a cheap imitation of France.

Next is Morocco. And Hoalid Regragui knows all about the mental side of the game. If there is one person I would pick for my team of the tournament, it would be him. The support of Maghreb, and Muslims all over the world, will be with the wily manager. So will tens of thousands of fans in the stadium who have united behind the first African team to make it this far in a world cup. So will France’s own colonial baggage. Having seen off Spain and Portugal, can Morocco do the unthinkable and put a third arrow in the heart of the colonisers? It will be difficult. Regragui’s squad is broken physically and not helped by suspensions. But in their minds they are the strongest team I have seen in a while. France are still overwhelming favourites for the tie on the 14th, but do the neutrals, and the partisan, dare to dream? In the simple words of so many Moroccan fans I have spoken to here in Doha, “Why not”?