France is in the rebound quarterfinals. Neither more nor less, because Deschamps’ team is still not shining, but it is also winning. This time, fortunately, because the winning goal was Vertonghen’s own goal in the final minutes that left Belgium behind (1-0).
By name, this is one of the round of 16 matches. For football, obviously not. More after seeing eleven. Deschamps decided to put Dembélé on the bench and get Griezmann back as a right winger, while Tedesco went to 4-4-2 and the sacrifice in midfield was Tielemans, who had a good Euro Cup.
France began to command more, albeit with an absolute ethereal dominance, as it was unable to do so in judgment in the final quarter of the field. The most important in the first half were Theo Hernández and Jules Koundé. The Gauls’ attacking play was largely through them, with some dangerous crosses, although only one was met with a header from Thuram that went wide.
Mbappé wanted to give leadership to the party, but Tedesco clearly changed the system to prevent him from doing so. He placed Onana close to Castagne and the Belgian midfielder was impressive as a fearsome piece against the Real Madrid player, who still did not give up on quick combinations. Although France were soon loaded with yellow cards, including Rabiot missing out on the quarterfinals, it wasn’t that they suffered much in defence. Belgium played in an understated manner. They gathered four and split the center of the field too much, with Kevin de Bruyne, their player with the most imagination and vision, too close to the center backs to create danger. The offense was therefore completely in the hands of Doku, who showed his overflow capacity on two occasions, one of them playing for Openda and ending with a shot by Carrasco that was covered by Theo. The clearest of the red devils with a poisoned foul from their captain which Maignan took with his feet.
The first half ended with a shot from Tchouaméni, the second, that went wide and started another that was stopped by Casteels, with a France that seemed to want to improve, as Belgium were happy to be in the game. Not so much with Lukaku, who was only seen in a few disputes with Saliba who came out on the losing end.
The game demanded more from Mbappé and he tried to respond in the second half, on several occasions he managed to escape the trap set by Onana. Their first dangerous shots came, but the three sticks were not found. He is not the only one who wants to leave his mark, as does De Bruyne, who before switching to playmaker left Carrasco alone with a great pass, but Theo Hernández showed unusual power to reach and block the shot.
The forces are relatively balanced. Belgium, now with Lukaku alone at the top, looked more directly for the striker, who did not take too much advantage of the misunderstandings. All the offensive weight therefore goes through their captain or some inspiration from Doku. And further, in a combination of the two, came De Bruyne’s shot, but it was too centered and simple for Maignan.
Minutes passed and neither team let up. Particularly eager to not fit in, because that translates into almost being left out. And it’s not fair to come from France. Or at least this way, as a shot from Kolo Muani that went nowhere hit Vertonghen and tricked Casteels into his own goal (85′). Tedesco reacted by putting Lukébakio and De Ketelaere on the field to work a miracle, but he couldn’t. More than the centers well denied by the defense of France, who if not playing well will be in the quarterfinals.
match lineup
16
5
22
8
4
17
13
14
fifteen
7
10
1
twenty-one
3
24
4
5
Eleven
7
twenty
10
22
Dusseldorf Arena
Cohen Casteels1
Timothy Castagnetwenty-one
87′
Arthur Theate3
13′
Amadou Onana24
Wout Faes4
Jan Vertonghen5
75′
84′
Yannick CarrascoEleven
87′
23′
Kevin De Bruyne7
61′
Lois Opendatwenty
62′
22′
Romelu Lukaku10
Jeremy Doku22
Replacements
Thomas Kaminski12
Matz Sels13
Zeno Debast2
Axel Witsel6
Maxim De Cuyper25
Youri Tielemans8
Aster Vranckx16
Orel Mangala18
62′
92′
Arthur Vermeeren23
Leandro Trossard9
Dodi Lukebakio14
87′
61′
Charles De Ketelaere17
87′
Johan Bakayoko19
coach
Didier Deschamps
Domenico Tedesco
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
