France is the first nation to clinch the 2018 World Cup spot after a 1-0 win against Belgium. Samuel Umtiti scored a header from Antoine Griezmann’s corner at the beginning of the second half, which ultimately proved to be the only goal of the game.
France will now wait for the winner of the other semi-finals match between England and Croatia, as they look to win their second World Cup title after lifting the 1998 World Cup trophy. This will be their first final appearance since 2006 World Cup when they lost on penalties against Italy.
Although this supposed to be a high-octane clash between two attacking-minded teams, it didn’t quite turn out that way. Both teams had their chances, but neither managed to turn them into clear-cut opportunities as defenses were on the top of their game.
France had 19 shots compared to Belgium’s nine, but it was Belgium that controlled the ball for the most part. They had 64 percent of the possession but failed to capitalize on it as their main stars like Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard were kept quiet for the most of the match. It looked like Belgium didn’t have the same motivation as they did in the 2-1 win against Brazil since it never looked like they were the better team.
“It was a close game and it was very tight and it was going to be decided by that bit of luck in front of goal.” – said Belgium’s coach Roberto Martinez after the game. “The attitude of the players was brilliant and we couldn’t ask for anymore. We have to understand one team wins and the other loses, and we did what we could.“
