The World Cup 2018 semi-finals saw France beat Belgium’s Golden Generation to reach the Final. Croatia beat England to reach their first-ever World Cup Final.
Belgium's golden generation fall
France 1 Belgium 0
For all the extravagant individual talent on display at World Cup 2018, it was the tournament of the set piece, notably the corner. Balls were whipped into the box, meeting the head of a positive runner to put the ball away. There’s no shame in bring good at set pieces. Working on those is every bit as valid as working in defensive shape, team organisation, the counter-attack.
France had clearly done a bit of training ground work on corners and the like. That ultimately proved the difference between them and Belgium. Chadli pumped in a string of absolute duffers that either hit the first man or sailed over everyone. Meanwhile, Griezmann picked out a pearl early in the second half, inviting a surging run to the near list from Umtiti. His glancing header grazed Fellaini on its way past Courtois to make the telling difference between the two sides in a game which, if anything, Belgium shaded.
Disciplined France
Ultimately, the Belgians were punished for winning their group.They were missing that crucial bit of spark taken from them in the effort required to put Brazil away in the previous round. For all their possession, they could not find that same zip again. Against a French side that is perhaps the most defensively disciplined in the competition, that was fatal.
Their organisation was first class, Varane utterly outstanding in central defence. Lloris again made one absolutely outstanding save when the scores were level to claw away an Alderweireld effort. But their discipline extended well beyond the back four because their midfield was outstanding.
Kante and Matuidi were simply inexhaustible, perpetual motion, snuffing danger out, prompting attacks. But in this World Cup, Pogba had reached the kind of maturity that had been expected of him for a while now. keeping it simple, doing his job, not grandstanding, yet capable of playing a killer pass to destroy the opposition.
Solid Defence
When you have the chance to hit balls into Giroud, release the pace of Mbappe or build up through Griezmann, you have potent attacking options. But no more than Belgium had at their disposal. But for Hazard, the largely misfiring De Bruyne and Lukaku were not given a sniff of an opening. This was a night they would want to forget, so well marshalled were they by the French team.
Try as they might, and they had enough of the ball, Belgium could not really open up the French rearguard. The brief madness of the Argentina game aside, they had looked impregnable. They hadn’t quite set the world alight. they had quietly picked their way through the competition’s wreckage and on into the final. They als0 improved game on game and this win over Belgium, perhaps a better side in many respects, was something of a statement
Are France the favorites?
France grew into the tournament game after game and now had real authority going into the final. They defeated Argentina, Uruguay and Belgium on the way. They did it with no real alarms save that briefest of scares against Argentina. To do it without really extending themselves is the hallmark of a very good side coming to the boil at precisely the right moment.
Golden Handshake for Belgium
For Belgium, it was a case of what might have been. Roberto Martinez would surely regret not throwing that last group game with England in order to finish second. Had he done so, the odds are that Belgium would have been meeting France in the final. They contributed richly to the competition, enthralling against Japan and Brazil. But those two games sapped too much energy, energy they needed to advance. No disgrace in losing to France, but for Belgium’s golden generation, there could have been so much more.
Croatia End England's World Cup Dream
Croatia 2 England 1
French fans were cheering as Croatia had to go to a third straight extra-time in the knockout section before overcoming their opponents. England were punch drunk and hanging on for dear life long before Mario Mandzukic strolled behind a static back three to win a historic victory. The tiny nation of Croatia could now look forward to its first-ever World Cup final.
Well deserved it was too for the class act of the bottom half of the draw. Not just the team but, in particular, the tournament’s shining light, Luka Modric. It’s a shame that, magnificent as both are, Messi and Ronaldo have monopolised the Ballon d’Or, for nobody deserves that accolade more than Modric.
There has been no greater adornment to the European game for a decade now. May any French sympathisers forgive me, there would be no better end to this World Cup than Modric lifting the trophy on behalf of the 128th biggest country in the world. Now that’s a story.
The story of the night was in two parts for England. There was the stunning start through Trippier’s terrific free-kick. The momentum that created meant for 25 minutes or so, England were in the ascendand. They could even have put the game away. But they faced by a better defence than they’d met hitherto. This defence could compete at corners to boot. The belief went out of the side dispiritingly quickly. That was crucial, for as England went into their shell, Croatia blossomed.
Modric Dictates
From 30 minutes in, Modric and Rakitic started to dictate, and all the old failings came out in depressingly familiar and predictable ways. Dropping deeper and deeper, trying to hold what they had – for 60 minutes? – becoming incapable of keeping possession, and increasingly smashing it long in hope as much as expectation of creating anything.
Proof of progress comes when you are under pressure. All too often, England reverted to type, underlining Gareth Southgate’s pre-match comments that this team was not the finished article. As they chased shadows through the second half, they looked a long, long way from it.
Perisic’s equaliser midway through the second half was inevitable. It says much for England’s character that they somehow took the game over the line and into extra time. Because they were never in the game, especially in that last quarter. The continually impressive Pickford kept them in it. Once they did get to the extra 30 minutes, the game should have been England’s, given the extra exertions Croatia have been through.
Mandzukic’s moment
Croatia’s invention and willingness to take risks against a backline that was visibly creaking proved crucial. They seized their moment. Mandzukic won the game, in sharp contrast to England’s failure to seal the game when they were on top.
And that is the cruel, hard reality of professional, top-line sport. You win, or you fail. There are no other options. England must not fall into the trap of becoming sentimental about this World Cup, of seeing it as some kind of Dunkirk triumph, for it was not. In the end, with the favourable draw they had, one they can hardly hope to get again, this was failure. Do Germany celebrate semi-finals? Brazil? Italy? Argentina? No.
Encouraging England
But England has a self-defeating tendency – in all walk of life – to do just that. They elevate mediocrity to a pedestal. Not this time. England supporters had every right to be encouraged by what they had seen from a young side. But to see it as anything other than a huge opportunity carelessly tossed away merely condemns them to more of the same. Accept it as failure, hate the failure, refuse to have another one. That’s how you win in the end, not by kidding yourselves.
Croatia, on the other hand, had an epic moment awaiting them, the greatest in their footballing history. In a just world, it would be Modric’s moment. But that extra 30 minutes and that day fewer rest? That would be telling.
Third Place Play-off
Belgium 2 England 0
Belgium beat England to win third place at at World Cup 2018.
As is traditional, the day before the final, they play the game of irrelevance, the third and fourth place play-off. Contested by two groups of millionaires who would much rather be cramming in the briefest of holidays before their respective leagues start all over again in just a few weeks time.
Being required to stay on in Russia for a few extra days after missing a chance to play in the World Cup final, just to play a game which nobody really cares about, is a particularly exquisite form of torture, but credit to both England and Belgium for mustering at least a semblance of interest in it all. Both played pretty much the strongest available sides, England making a couple of additional changes, and both tried to raise a gallop, to differing degrees of success.
The game played out very much as expected. Belgium were by far the better, more incisive outfit.
Golden Generation
As it was, the golden generation had to be content with the bronze medal after putting England to the sword without too much difficulty. The combined qualities of De Bruyne and Hazard proved far too much for England from the outset. They again exposed the lack of depth in the England set-up beyond the first XI. Once Meunier completed a swift attacking move to put Belgium a goal up after four minutes, the die was cast.
That isn’t to say England didn’t have their chances. Kane has clearly put his calendar a month forward by mistake, believing it to now be August, a month in which he isn’t allowed to score. But for all that, Belgium controlled the first half and should have put the game away by the break. England had an opportunity to hit back after the break. Dier was denied by an acrobatic clearance by Alderweireld.
In truth, though, the intensity wasn’t there from either side. The perennial difference between having to win a game and merely wanting to win it was laid bare for all to see. It was wholly appropriate that Hazard should finish the scoring after another strong individual performance. Harry Kane retained his grasp on the Golden Boot.
Read Dave Bowler’s fascinating recollections of the 2018 World Cup Final between France and Croatia.
