From our Special Envoy in Doha,
We went through all the emotions on Saturday evening but, on arrival, the Blues succeeded in their bet they had set themselves, that of bringing England home and qualifying for the second time in four years. in the last four of the World Cup, with a clear view of the final, without disrespecting anyone and especially not Morocco.
Long dominated, the men of Didier Deschamps once again managed to tip fate in their favor by hitting the Three Lions (2-1) thanks to pawns from Tchouaméni and Giroud.
They will meet Morocco on Wednesday for a semi-final as historic as it is totally unexpected.
Systems are shattered.
We will say what we want but football is never as beautiful as when things go wrong, when the plans patiently worked on throughout the week are no more than vague memories scribbled by the coach on the paper board. of the locker room, when the players, finally, engage the instinct mode to no longer calculate anything.
This is what happened on Saturday evening, in the sweetness of an Al Bayt stadium which suddenly became more caliente, from the kick-off of the second period between France and England.
Because, so far, we have seen what we had planned to see.
A well-organized English team with a Kyle Walker only having eyes for Kylian Mbappé, and a French team willingly leaving the ball to their opponent to better shear it in the transition phases.
This is how they opened the scoring, moreover, after a low recovery from Upamecano, a comeback from Mbappé and a finish from 25 meters from Aurélien Tchouaméni.
It was only when they returned from the locker room, after Southgate's men started the third, that this quarter-final entered the dimension of very big games.
The penalty transformed by Harry Kane after a foul by Tchouaméni on a Saka with the false air of Mbappé, having something to do with it.
Five minutes of madness.
We told you, after the hour mark, exactly like the epic Netherlands-Argentina the day before, this match turned into the suffocating and the irrational.
First, the Blues owed their salvation only to an ill-adjusted header from Maguire, strangely alone in the area after a well-tapping set piece, before it was another headbutt, French this one. there, which does not put the France team back on the road to the semi-finals.
A minute after missing a goal not quite but almost, with this point-blank shot from six meters right on Pickford, Olivier Giroud emerged perfectly full axis to slam the noggin a millimeter cross from Griezmann with his left foot.
In slow motion, we will understand that the ball would have known another fate if Maguire's shoulder had not passed through there.
As if fate had chosen its side.
Sensation confirmed a few minutes later by seeing Kane send a new peno (by the way, thank you Theo Hernandez for this foul on Mount) very far above the bar of Lloris.
A collective that survives everything.
On arrival, not without having slammed their buttocks again during the endless eight minutes of stoppage of play, Didier Deschamps' Blues find themselves again in the last four of a World Cup.
It throws a little, no?
Difficult however to say what this team is really worth on the pure level of the game, so much it still seemed to suffer as it had already been able to do for more than half an hour against Poland.
What we do know, however, is that this team seems to be carried by a collective strength and a tempered steel mind that makes it come back in front when we perhaps least believe it.
We also know that she found a great Hugo Lloris, impeccable and decisive on several occasions on Saturday evening, and only the English press preferred Jordan Pickford to her, as she hinted the week before the match.
Finally, let's add that Kylian Mbappé has for once not pulled all the coverage to him as the world had announced in the preamble.
What is rather coherent finally so much this team of France version 2022 seems to be stamped with the seal of the collective.
A collective that never ceases to make us understand that it lives well together and that it knows where it wants to go.
Gentlemen, show us the way, we'll follow you to the end of the world.
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