Beat Belgium, France qualify for finals

Saint Petersburg - France qualified for the 2018 World Cup final. Les Bleus earned a place in the top party after beating Belgium 1-0. Basketball player Samuel Umtiti became the decisive winner of France in the semi-final at the St Petersburg Stadium on Wednesday (11/7/2018) early morning hrs. Umtiti's header goal in the 51st minute can not be returned to Belgium until the long whistle sounded. The game went hot for 90 minutes. Both teams attack each other and create enough opportunities. After the first half ended with an eyeglass score, France became a goal at Umtiti early in the second half. This goal became the only goal created in this match. France is now just waiting for the opponent in the final to be held at the Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, Sunday (15/07/2018). They will face Croatia or England.

****The game

The game runs very interesting since kick-off. Both teams featured open games and involved buying and selling attacks. However, the first new opportunity created in the 16th minute. Eden Hazard who got the pass from Kevin De Bruyne fired a shot cross, but his direction is still a bit off the French goal. France responded two minutes later through Blaise Matuidi's long range shot. However, Matuidi's experiment did not bear fruit because the ball can be secured by Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois. Belgium almost took the lead in the 22nd minute. Hard shot Toby Alderweireld headed towards the French goal, but goalkeeper Hugo Lloris flew to brushed the ball off the field. France turns to threaten through opportunities obtained by Olivier Giroud. In a back-to-back position, Giroud headed in a cross from Benjamin Pavard. Unlucky for him, the direction of the ball is still a little off the mark. The next threat from France came from Pavard in the 40th minute. The French right-back poked into the Belgian penalty box, but his close-range shot could have thwarted Courtois with his legs.
Both teams continued to try to break the deadlock in the rest of the first half. But, the score 0-0 did not change until halftime. The new deadlock was solved as the second half went six minutes. Umtiti led France 1-0 through goal. Starting from a corner kick taken by Antoine Griezmann, Umtiti who stood at the near post beating Marouane Fellaini in a duel air. Umtiti's header penetrated the goalkeeper of Belgium without being stopped by Courtois. France has a chance to increase its lead in the 57th minute. Giroud gets the ball in the penalty box and tries to shoot, but his effort is blocked by Mousa Dembele. Belgium will have an equalizer eight minutes later. Dries Mertens substitute cross from the right side greeted Fellaini's header, but the direction of the ball is still slightly deviated from the French goal. In order to increase power knocked in the rest of the time, Belgium also included Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco to replace Fellaini. Instead, the French tried to defend their lead and included Steven Nzonzi, who plays a defensive midfielder. Belgium get a chance when the game has entered the 81st minute. Axel Witsel fired a long-range shot, which forced Lloris to rescue. In injury time, France even twice threatened the goalkeeper of Belgium through shots Griezmann and Corentin Tolisso. But, two opportunities that can be thwarted by Courtois.