FRANCE and Portugal arrived with two of the tournament’s biggest stars. Recent Real Madrid acquisition Kylian Mbappe leads the attack for the former while the seemingly evergreen Cristiano Ronaldo is still captaining the latter.
This is the business end of the tournament where results matter more than performances. Getting to the next stage is all that matters and the two big guns have managed precisely that.
Here is a round-up of the knock-out ties played early this morning.
Belgium 0 v France 1
Both sides have faced criticism for not reaching the expected heights, not least the Belgians who were roundly jeered by their own supporters in the last group stage game. Would they be able to rouse themselves for this match against pre-tournament favourites France?
With the likes of Jeremy Doku, Romelo Lukaku and Kevin De Bruyne in the Belgium team, there was still expectation that they could be tournament dark horses.
Although they fared better in this game than in the earlier rounds, it was still not enough to get past the French. It was an extremely tight affair ultimately settled by an own goal in the 85th minute.
France are struggling for goals upfront and their over reliance on Mbappe is telling, with the likes of Antoine Griezmann and Olivier Giroud unable to muster the firepower required to break down stubborn defences.
But as France manager Didier Deschamp pointed out post-match, France are through and that is all that matters.
Portugal 0 v Slovenia 0 (AET 0-0 / Portugal win 3-0 on penalties)
Slovenia were heroic in their efforts to keep their illustrious opponents at bay, not least goalkeeper Jan Oblak who pulled off a series of stunning saves.
This included an extra-time penalty save against Cristiano Ronaldo who wept at his dreadful miss and seemingly lost his composure before the penalty kicks. But up he stepped for the shootout and made amends for his earlier miss.
However, the hero for Portugal was not CR7 but Portugal keeper Diogo Costa who saved all three Slovenia penalties.
Slovenia will be ruing missing the few chances they had to create an almighty upset earlier in regulation and extra-time. More clinical finishing will be needed if Portugal are to advance to the semis and perhaps not expecting the two old war horses, CR7 who is 38 and Pepe who is 41, to dig them out of a hole.
The new generation of stars such as Bernado Silva, Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Jota will need to step up to the plate and justify the pre-competition hype. – July 2, 2024
Main pic credit: Reuters
