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France outlasts Belgium to make World Cup Final

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France is through to the World Cup Final for the third time since winning it all in 1998.

Samuel Umtiti’s 51st minute headed goal was enough to give Les Bleus a 1-0 victory over the Red Devils of Belgium.

After a cagey first half that saw few real chances at goal, France got on the board early on in the second half. It was a set piece again providing the breakthrough. Antoine Griezmann provided the service to Umtiti, who was left unmarked to rise to the ball and head home with relative ease.

Belgium controlled much of the ball for the remainder of the match, but strong defensive contributions from Umtiti, Paul Pogba, and pretty much the entire French squad kept Belgium off the scoreboard.

Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris played a role as well. He made several excellent saves throughout the match. None was better than a quick reaction diving save he made midway through the second half on Toby Alderweireld.

France will take on the winner of tomorrow’s other semi-final between Croatia and England.

Belgium will play the loser in Saturday’s third place game.

Comments

  1. I think if these teams were to play 10 regulation games, it would end up where each team would finish with a score of 3 wins, 3 losses, and 4 draws. They are very evenly matched and it could have gone either way. One thing that struck me today is that, while it was a friendly, France played most of their starters vs. the young US team for that game in France and that 1-1 draw looks pretty good right now.

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    • Not really. World cup semifinal vs last pre-cup friendly where the result is meaningless and the French players are just trying to avoid getting injured. Apples and oranges.

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    • garypage said: “One thing that struck me today is that, while it was a friendly, France played most of their starters vs. the young US team for that game in France and that 1-1 draw looks pretty good right now.” i hear what panda is saying, but i still think that on the other hand in your final tune up match before going to wc, everybody is on fire to show the coach they really belong in the lineup so yeah they don’t want to get hurt but they do want to “show up” for that game and show well. so we survived a 1-1 draw with the team who played in the final game of the wc, not bad for a couple of kids, eh?

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