Aurelien Choameni and Olivier Giroud scored as France beat England 2-1, and the defending champions qualified to face Morocco in the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup, after Harry Kane equalized from a penalty kick and then knocked out another kick near the end..
And France needs one victory to become the first champion to reach the final in two consecutive editions since Brazil did in 2002, and it needs two victories to become the third team to retain the title after Brazil 1962 and Italy in 1938..
And France made a lot of effort before winning its first elimination match against its rivals England at the end of the quarter-finals.
France advanced with a goal after 17 minutes had passed, as it took advantage of England’s continued complaint that Bukayo Saka’s player was not counted, and Griezmann passed the ball to Tchoamini to fire a massive shot from outside the penalty area past goalkeeper Jordan Pickford..
England tried to compensate and pressed, but lacked the accuracy of the final touch, although goalkeeper Hugo Lloris needed to intervene to save an attempt from his colleague in Tottenham Hotspur, Kane, and then deflected another attempt from the England captain..
Lloris shone again after the break and saved a powerful shot from midfielder Judd Bellingham, with England still under pressure.
Then Saka, who had been England’s most dangerous player in the first half, was fouled by Tchuameni and Kane converted the penalty past Lloris to equal Wayne Rooney’s England record of 53 goals..
England played with great confidence after the goal, and Harry Maguire almost scored with a header, but it missed the goal a little.
But France succeeded on the other side, after that, in scoring, as Griezmann sent a cross that Giroud turned, despite the control of Maguire, into the goal from close range, to raise his tally to four goals in the tournament..
Kane got a new chance to equalize, after the video assistant referee awarded a penalty kick due to a mistake by Theo Hernandez against substitute Mason Mount, but the England captain smashed the ball high six minutes before the end of normal time in front of more than 68,000 spectators..
And just before the end of stoppage time, substitute Marcus Rashford hit a free kick from the edge of the penalty area, but it came directly above the goal, to lose the English team for the seventh time in its tenth appearance in the quarter-finals of the World Cup..
France will play in the semi-finals on Wednesday against the Moroccan national team, which stunned Portugal and came out winning 1-0 today, to become the first Arab or African team to reach the golden square in the history of the competition..
In the other semi-final match, Argentina will play Croatia.
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