Soccer / france vs belgium

Today we are back talking about football and of course the World Cup of Russia 2018. As you well know, on Tuesday evening in St. Petersburg was played the first semifinal of the tournament France - Belgium, which has decreed the first finalist. A game full of emotions that saw the favorite team pass the turn, albeit with no little effort. But let's analyze the game together in the next paragraph. France - Belgium 1-0 The goals 51' Umtiti France (4-2-3-1): Lloris; Pavard, Varane, Umtiti, Hernandez; Pogba, Kantè; Mbappè, Griezmann, Matuidi (86' Tolisso); Giroud (85' Nzonzi) Coach: Deschamps Belgium (3-4-3): Courtois; Alderweireld, Kompany, Vertonghen; Dembelé (59' Mertens), Fellaini (79' Carrasco), Witsel, Chadli (91' Batshuayi); De Bruyne, Lukaku, Hazard Coach: Martinez Imagine CC0 creative commons In the name of Umtiti: a goal of the French defender in the second half in St. Petersburg gives the victory and the final to France; Belgium instead will have to be satisfied with the final for the 3rd - 4th place. The game was hard-fought and active, even if during the first fraction both teams were contracted and committed to studying each other. Belgium started better than France, with a more lively game that grew in intensity with the passing of the minutes. Hazard tried several times to score, as did Fellaini and De Bruyne but a super Lloris denied them the joy of the goal. At the end of the first half, the transalpine flickering: from the umpteenth outburst of Mbappè a goal by Pavard was almost born, but it was blocked by the foot of the Belgian defender. 0-0 therefore after the first 45 minutes, also thanks to the saves of the 2 goalkeepers Lloris and Courtois who closed the gates. The second half started off strong with the surprise goal from France that broke the ice: on a corner kick played very well by Griezmann, Umtiti anticipated everyone and scored a goal as heavy as a boulder. Precisely because Belgium is hitting the nail on the head and is going into difficulties. The Transalpines took advantage of this and pushed on the accelerator in search of a doubling. The Belgian defense is confused so Mbappè is free to juggle in the opponent's half of the field and cause a mess. Martinez tries to give a shock to his team by inserting the fresh Mertens: Napoli's striker immediately shows off with his agility and makes himself dangerous on the side of Lloris, however without scoring. The French set the pace and closed themselves off in their own area to defend their advantage, administering the game. Martinez's boys can't unlock and he makes the last attempts throwing into the field Carrasco and Batshuayi: all useless, there is no more time to remedy, the game ends 1-0 for France. The third final in the last 20 years for the boys of Deschamps, no other national team has ever done that before. The French showed that they deserved it much more than Belgium for what we saw on the field last night; even though I honestly didn't like the attitude on the final minutes in defense of 1-0, especially that of Griezmann who avoided trying to break through. I understand the importance of stakes and Deschamps' clever tactics to win the final, but matches must be played from 1' to 90' otherwise what's football? Perhaps it will be my rancor towards my French cousins that makes me think certain things, however, in the final, this approach could cost the Transalpines a lot, regardless of the opponent they will face. Martinez's boys, blocked by the French wall in St Petersburg, will have to be satisfied with the third or the fourth place. To tell the truth, they lost the game by themselves, because the first half had raised hopes and with a bit more coldness they could've gone to the interval with at least 1 goal and play it in the second half. However, it was a historic year for the Belgian national team, which reached and equaled the highest point, the semi-finals. There are also good prospects for the future for this talented team that still has a lot to show to the world. So who will be France's challenger in the final that will take place on Sunday 15 July at 5 p.m. in Moscow? The winner of yesterday evening's semi-final England - Croatia, but I will not reveal it in this post (even if most of you already know it) because I will talk about it in the next one in which I will analyze the match. So I leave you with this mystery and I give you the appointment tomorrow to discover together the outcome of the second semifinal and to think about the final. I wish good football to everyone! Source: Massimoc23 This is a translation of the post made by @Massimoc23 on Steemit, and he authorized me to translate and publish his post in here. This is my collaboration number 7 with him, and more articles will follow! I also advise every one of you to ask for permission before translating somebody's post because you risk being accused of plagiarism if you don't, especially if the article is from famous journals or magazines. All images used in this post are free from copyright and I advise you all to start using images that are not copyright protected!