France 1
85og Belgium 0
For a moment in Düsseldorf, 66 shots and almost six hours into the competition, it seemed that the wait was finally over when Randal Kolo Muani's shot, their 18th on an often frustrating and oddly flat evening, beat Koen Casteels. When it came though, the shot was scuffed, deflected off the defender's knee and so ultimately awarded to poor Jan Vertonghen instead.
Unfair? Perhaps, but with that the Belgium centre-back became France's joint top scorer alongside Austria's Max Wöber and Kylian Mbappé, scorer of a penalty against Poland. With that, more importantly, France found a way past Belgian and into the next round. And that, Didier Deschamps insisted, is something to celebrate, something that should be appreciated. More to the point, however they did it - and this felt like a pretty good portrait of their performances, a goal worthy of winning this game - you wouldn't bet against them continuing through this tournament.
Not least because, for all the evidence pointing at a team that's not that good, for all that France inspire fear more because of what they can do than what they actually do, it is hard to avoid the feeling that it is at least partly by design; that at some point, things will fall into place; that reaching finals is just what they do.
Denne historien er fra July 02, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian.
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Denne historien er fra July 02, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian.
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