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Somehow, it felt worse this time. Maybe every time he feels worse and we make ourselves forget. But England played their hearts out at the Al Bayt Stadium on the edge of the Arabian Desert and outshone the world champions and tournament favorites in this quarter-final defeat. France are a wonderful and cultured team, but England were better than them for long periods of the match. They deserved more than another episode of heartbreak.
But the truth is that England have become adept at finding ways to lose at critical moments in big games and here they found another variation on that theme. Harry Kane, who had equalized Wayne Rooney’s England goalscoring record of 53 goals with a penalty early in the second half that made the score 1-1, had a chance to level again and break the record with a second late penalty. of the party game, but he shot it high over the bar.
This game was always going to be decided with good margins and that missed penalty decided this game. It seemed terribly cruel for Kane to carry that burden after all the goals he’s scored for his country, but football is a cruel game. You only have to look at the parade of superstars who have left their World Cup crying to know it.
Harry Kane watches in dismay as his penalty clears the crossbar as England miss the chance to level the score at 2-2.
It was more World Cup angst for England as they emerged in second place behind France by the slimmest of margins.
England manager Gareth Southgate comforts Harry Kane after he missed a decisive penalty in a close quarter-final.
Declan Rice looks dejected after the final whistle after England came up short in a major tournament yet again
There was jubilation for France as they celebrated their victory and advanced to the semifinals, where they will play Morocco.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Luis Suárez have been heartbroken at the end of their teams’ participation here. Now we can add poor Kane to that list. As the final whistle was blown to signal England’s departure at the end of this knife-edge 2-1 defeat, the England captain squatted on the edge of the France penalty area and stood there, head gacha.
Finally England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford ran the length of the pitch and tried to comfort him. Kane finally got to his feet, his eyes bloodshot and pain written all over his face. England manager Gareth Southgate was next to try to console him. At the other end, the France players ran up to their lined-up supporters and waved. The England players slowly drifted away.
And for those of us who have measured our lives on England’s World Cup defeats, we can now add Al Bayt’s name to Leon, Turin, Saint-Etienne, Shizuoka, Gelsenkirchen, Bloemfontein, Sao Paulo and Moscow in the extension of the lexicon. from places English football will always associate with despair and the rubble of shattered dreams.
We are left with a cloying feeling of what could have been. If there was never any great conviction that England would win in Russia four years ago or even at Euros in the summer of 2021, it seemed at this tournament that England had found a perfect blend of youth and experience and that young stars like Bellingham, Bukayo Saka and Foden were ready to conquer the competition.
They told us that France feared us more than we feared them. They told us to throw away all that emotional baggage we carry as England fans and see what others see. They told us to believe a little more. And, against our better judgment, we begin to believe. And then we meet the world champions. And while the England players rewarded our confidence, we now have another heroic failure to deal with, another disappointment to deal with, another investigation to negotiate.
The critics will come for Gareth Southgate of course and try to find a way to blame him, but the reality is if France had a better system or better tactics this game came down to one team taking their chances and another team whose captain and The best player missed a penalty at a critical moment. If Southgate wants to continue until the end of his contract after Euro 2024, that should be a no-brainer for the FA. He must be welcomed with open arms.
He has done everything right during this World Cup and has confounded his critics at every turn. This was not in it. Not that anyone cares too much about that. “It doesn’t make sense to go into a game like this and just cover up and sit on the ropes,” he had said before the game and backed up his words by staying true to the starting lineup, and 4-3-3 Formation that had sparked so much optimism with his performance in the round of 16 against Senegal. It was a bold choice and another response to those who have accused him of being inherently cautious.
England’s pre-match obsession had been how to stop Kylian Mbappé, the striker who has once again been crowned the best player in the world at this tournament. But in the early stages, they were reminded that there is much more to France’s attack than Mbappé. Antoine Griezmann, the player who pulls the strings in midfield, was the epitome of grace under pressure from the start. He felt like a bad omen.
It was a hint from Griezmann that led to the first chance of the game after 12 minutes. Griezmann sped through the center of the field and placed a ball into the path of Ousmane Dembele on the right. His cross was just behind Olivier Giroud, but Giroud twisted his body and headed home. Jordan Pickford put him down easily.
France kept pressing. They looked like a team that expected to win even then. And after 16 minutes, they took the lead. The ball was worked on between Mbappé, Dembélé and Griezmann until it reached Aurelien Tchouameni at 25 metres. Bellingham scrambled to try and close it out, but Tchouameni drove his shot through Bellingham’s legs and deflected off Pickford’s desperate right hand and into the corner of the net.
England looked overwhelmed but recovered well. They thought they had forcefully returned to the game midway through the half when Harry Kane pulled away from Dayot Upamecano and was tackled from behind. VAR reviewed the incident but decided that there was no foul or that he was outside the box and Brazilian referee Wilton Sampaio restarted the game. Kane forced a flying save from Hugo Lloris with a long shot, saw another chance saved by his Spurs teammate and France cleared away a scramble at the mouth of the goal as England searched for a foothold.
Two minutes into the break, Lloris was knocking down a rising shot from Bellingham. Four minutes after that, Bellingham made a one-two with Saka on the edge of the box, Saka storming into the box and pulling wide of Tchouameni, who brought him down. Kane prepared to take the penalty against Lloris. Spurs on Spurs. Before taking it, he walked forward slowly, picked up the ball, and replaced it on the spot. The tension was unbearable. Finally, he took the run from him and slammed it into the net.
France came to life immediately, as if it had needed England scoring to motivate them. Adrien Rabiot forced a fine save from Pickford with a diving volley and then Mbappe and Kyle Walker finally clashed in a sprint down France’s left. Mbappé won it. He withdrew the ball from the goal line but it slipped past Giroud and Dembélé couldn’t control it and the chance was gone.
England came desperately close to taking the lead with 20 minutes remaining. Jordan Henderson fired a free kick from the right and Harry Maguire soared regally at the far post to find it. His header got past Lloris but he kissed the outside of the right post and went down safely.
England was on top now. Saka was causing more and more trouble and France was finding it impossible to shackle him. When Luke Shaw broke down the left and fired a fine low cross to the far post, Saka moved past Theo Hernandez, but was unable to direct his right-footed shot inside the post. It was another escape for France.
But now France has hit back. Dembélé headed a cross back to Giroud, who tried to volley past Pickford from eight yards. Pickford pummeled the ball away at that moment, but a minute later, he had no response for the AC Milan striker. This time, Griezmann sent in a brilliant cross from France’s left, a cross with speed and curve, and Giroud moved past Maguire and headed past Pickford from close range.
RE-LIVE HOW THE ACTION DEVELOPED WITH ADAM SHERGOLD BELOW