Fernando Muslera's error helped France progress

Uruguay 0-2 France: Muslera error helps Les Bleus reach semi-final

17:11 · FRI July 06, 2018

France are the first team to book their spot in the World Cup semi-final after a 2-0 victory over Uruguay in Nizhny Novgorod.

The result see Les Bleus move into 5/2 favourites to win the World Cup in Russia.

The South Americans huffed and puffed but never really troubled the 1998 champions who advanced thanks to goals from Raphael Varane and Antoine Griezmann, his third of the tournament.

They can now look forward to a semi-final in St Petersburg on Tuesday against the winner of Friday's late quarter-final between Brazil and Belgium.

Uruguay fans outnumbered their French counterparts in the very blue-and-white stadium by at least 10 to one and that advantage certainly told during the national anthems.

But while they sang their hearts out they must also have known that France had just received a major boost with the news that Paris St Germain star Edinson Cavani would be sitting on the bench and not terrorising their defence.

World Cup 2018 winner (odds via Sky Bet)

France - 5/2
Brazil - 3/1
England - 4/1
Belgium - 6/1
Croatia - 13/2
Russia - 20/1
Sweden - 25/1

Uruguay's two-goal hero in the last round against Portugal had failed to recover from the calf injury that saw him limp off, with Cristiano Ronaldo's help, which meant former Middlesbrough striker Cristhian Stuani would be alongside nuisance-in-chief Luis Suarez.

Stuani is a better player than he showed on Teesside - he scored 19 goals for Girona last season - but he is not as good as Cavani.

So it was no real surprise to see Uruguay's bright start fizzle out after about 10 minutes and France's more cultured midfield begin to take control, with N'Golo Kante busily recycling the ball and Paul Pogba and Griezmann looking to get Kylian Mbappe away down the right.

And the first big chance fell to France's man of the moment. Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud found him all alone, six yards out, with a lovely cushioned header but Mbappe mistimed his leap and headed wastefully over.

Not a great deal happened for the next 25 minutes. France were the better team but Uruguay were resolute and relatively unruffled, which is why the goal they conceded in the 40th minute will annoy them so much.

Raphael Varane celebrates his goal against Uruguay

Griezmann's freekick from 40 yards out was well delivered but, for once, Diego Godin and co were beaten to the header by another defender, the classy Varane, who glanced it expertly past Fernando Muslera.

'La Celeste' are nothing if not resilient, though, and they nearly equalised just before the break with a carbon-copy goal. This time, however, Hugo Lloris produced a magnificent save to deny Martin Caceres' header.

The two-time world champions started the second half well, too, and with Maximiliano Gomez and the lively Cristian Rodriguez and coming on for the disappointing Stuani and cautioned Rodrigo Betancur on the hour, it looked like they might get back into it.

But then disaster struck. France had not got going at all but Pogba found Griezmann about 25 yards out and he pulled the trigger. It was certainly travelling but it was straight at Muslera and should have been a routine save.

The Galatatasary goalkeeper got it horribly wrong, though, and the ball squirted through his gloves to double France's lead with under half an hour to play.

Rodriguez nearly got one back with a shot just wide following a corner but the game then entered a bad-tempered spell, with Uruguay accusing Mbappe of play-acting and the teenager annoyed at their attempts to drag him to his feet. He was carded for his reaction.

Uruguay threw everything at France late on, including defender Jose Gimenez as an auxiliary attacker, but Didier Deschamps' men soaked it all up without any alarm.

And by the end Les Blues, wearing white here, looked every part a potential world champion.

Goal videos

Raphael Varane - Uruguay 0-1 France

GOAL! Varane heads France into the lead with their first effort on target! pic.twitter.com/O1loZxJRWa
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) July 6, 2018

Antoine Griezmann - Uruguay 0-2 France

GOAL! Griezmann's effort from range is fumbled by Muslera and the ball loops into the Uruguay net! pic.twitter.com/0vgZyB99YE
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) July 6, 2018

Opta facts

France have reached the World Cup semi-final for the sixth time, progressing to the final twice (1998 and 2006).
France have become only the second team to beat three different South American sides in a single World Cup tournament, after the Netherlands in 1974.
France are unbeaten in their last 10 World Cup matches against South American sides (W6 D4), since a 1-2 loss vs Argentina in 1978. It’s the joint-longest ever such run against CONMEBOL nations in the competition’s history (Italy also 10 between 1982 and 2010).
Uruguay received more yellow cards today (2) than they had in their previous four 2018 World Cup games combined (1).
France have now scored with each of their last six shots on target at the 2018 World Cup, including both such efforts against Uruguay.
This was Uruguay’s first competitive game that Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez did not start together since March 2017, in a 1-4 defeat to Brazil.
France have lost none of the 20 games in which Antoine Griezmann has scored for them (W18 D2 L0).
France’s Antoine Griezmann has scored seven goals in his last six appearances in the knockout stages of major tournaments (World Cup and EUROs).
Raphael Varane’s goal his third in all competitions for France, with all three of them being headers.
Uruguay forward Luis Suarez failed to have a single touch in the opposition box in this match, and also failed to register a single shot.

Odds correct at 1705 BST (06/07/18)