After having eliminated Argentina in the eighth round of the final, The France team faced a South American rival of the Albiceleste, Uruguay, in a match that was expected to be very close this Friday at 4 p.m. Tight because the selection directed by Oscar Tabarez has made itself a specialty, that of defending like starving deaths, every minute of play, and so much for the show. Knowing this, The Blues, dressed in white, began the encounter, in a 4-2-3-1 pattern where Tolisso replaced Matuidi, suspended, in the left corridor. On the Uruguayan side, Cavani was not starting because of his calf injury. The match was going to be hard and hard and it was proven in the second minute with a sole, as mean as it was useless, by Gimenez on Giroud. A little sleepy, the French defence was much less aggressive during the first two Uruguayan incursions into our area, one of which ended with a non-shot from Stuani (5′). Celeste did not miss making mistakes, quite numerous at the beginning of the match, putting a lot of impact.
On a corner, Gimenez dominated the French defense to release a head frame, which forced Lloris to divert from the fist (13th). But the biggest opportunity was going to be French. On a good center of Pavard, at the second post, Giroud put back of the head for Mbappé, strangely alone. The PSG player missed his impulse, too early, and sent a soft head well above Muslera’s goals (15′). Faced with a grouped block, The Blues were looking for a maximum width to stretch the opposing Defense, multiplying the wing changes. Pavard often had the opportunity to center, Lucas also, but unfortunately this never ended with a shot. So the game looked like what was planned, or feared, depending on. Celeste ? Offensively not much, waiting for a good shot to play (soft hit from Vecino to the 36th). Fortunately, liberation was coming for the French. After a big tackle from Bentancur on Tolisso, the rookies got a good free-kick, perfectly kicked by Griezmann. Varane popped up on the first post to cut the trajectory and cheated on Muslera (1-0, 40′)! It was necessary to avoid the reciprocal from now on, and for this Lloris was present. On a free-kick fired by Torreira, Caceres dropped a superb head, beautifully diverted by the habs Gatekeeper (44′), which Godin could not get back to the goal.
Muslera offers break to the Blues
On the way back from the dressing rooms, the rookies always looked good in the game, focused and focused. The free-kicks obtained were, however, a little less well drawn, and did not allow for the creation of Frank opportunities. What about the Uruguayans ? Led to the score, they were waiting for game time to show a bit of the fangs, with some interesting situations in the French camp for lack of real actions. So Tabarez played coaching, with the entries of Gomez and Rodriguez, in the seats of Stuani and Bentancur. But there it was, maybe it was already too late since Griezmann, shifted by Tolisso, in front of the left angle of the surface, armed a powerful shot. And patatras, Muslera was missing on the shot (2-0, 61′)! A terrible mistake from the goalkeeper of Galatasaray.
Les Bleus were therefore taking a break and could contemplate the continuation of the encounter with serenity. But the match became Electric after a dribble of Mbappé that displeased the Uruguayans. The French striker picked a yellow, like Rodriguez. Behind them, the tension dropped slightly, just like the rhythm of the match, the fault also to Uruguayans not fresh enough to push a solid French team. The rookies put their foot on the ball, controlled the tempo and made their opponents run as soon as possible. A near-ideal end to the match that resulted in a deserved qualification for the semifinals. Deschamps’s men delivered a real team match and were able to beat the Uruguayan trap. It is more than ever permitted to dream.