7 July 2016
FRANCE 2 (Griezmann 45 Pen, Griezmann 72)
GERMANY 0
In the opening minutes Griezmann played a double one-two as he carried the ball up the left flank, he dribbled past Ozil and Howedes crashed and burned following a tussle with Giroud, giving Griezmann a clear opening but his feeble shot was parried by Neuer. At the other end Lloris got down well to deny Can, whose ugly volley bounced awkwardly. The overrated Boateng failed to judge the bounce on a longball, Giroud headed the ball forward but, unfortunately for France, had to make up 40 yards to goal, giving Howedes plenty of time to recover. An absolutely miserable display of pace from the giant Frenchman. The Germans dominated the remainder of the half, having something like 70% possession and despite not creating any clear openings it seemed only a matter of time Deschamps moronic decision to pick Sissoko ahead of the superior Kante would backfire but Schweinsteiger got him out of jail. Griezmann swung in a corner from the left and Schweinsteiger did a Boateng, punching the ball off Evra's head. What a fucking idiot. Griezmann telegraphed his penalty, shaping to shoot left, he shot left and Neuer, of course, dived right.
Under pressure from Griezmann and Giroud, the French pressed far more aggressively in the second half having stood off in the first, Howedes played a square pass across goal, Pogba pounced on Kimmich's poor first touch, Mustafi stuck with him like glue, forcing him outside the box, Pogba wiggled his right foot in the air before turning sharply and hanging up a cross with his left, Neuer came off his line, wary of the threat of Giroud, punched the ball out into traffic and Griezmann jabbed through his legs to score his sixth goal of the tournament. By this time cripple Boateng had been stretchered off with another injury. He's never managed to play more than 27 games in a season. Kimmich curled a shot against the outside of the left post and the Germans finally created two good scoring opportunities - in the 93rd minute. Kimmich met Mustafi's cross with a header, the ball possibly took a deflection of Muller and Lloris did a Superman dive, making a brilliant one handed save. The Germans quickly recycled the ball and the one time great white hope, Gotze, headed wide when unmarked at the back post.
This was one of the least dramatic semi-finals I can recall. Even the penalty came out of nowhere as it wasn't clear there had been a handball until a minute or so after the incident. Germany need to find some centre forwards, technically proficient, ball playing midfielders are all well and good but you need someone to put the ball in the back of the net and the importance of a crack forward was evident here, if it wasn't already. Low probably couldn't have effected the outcome given the lack of options in attack. Umtiti had a brilliant game. His positioning was excellent, his tackling clean and physically he was more than a match for any of Germany's players. Sissoko on the other hand is a brainless, head down run merchant. It's baffling he's chosen ahead of Kante. Not that it will probably make much of a difference against Portugal.
Attendance : 64,078
Assists : n/a, n/a
6 July 2016
PORTUGAL 2 (Ronaldo 50, Nani 53)
WALES 0
An absolutely terrible first half. Ronaldo, who else, stole the headlines with another match winning performance. Mario played the shortest of short corners to Guerreiro and Ronaldo towered above Chester as he met his team-mates cross with a bullet header. Guerreiro, who has signed for Dortmund for €12 million, forced the second goal with another dangerous cross, Chester's clearance only got as far as Ronaldo, who was lurking near the edge of the box, he took an awful shot but the ball fell kindly to Nani, who threw himself at it to divert past Hennessey. Ronaldo clipped the top of the crossbar with a free kick and Mario, who had an excellent game, should have made it 3-0 but shot wide with the goal at his mercy after Hennessey spilled from Nani. Without Ramsey of course, who in typical Arsenal fashion, let his team down by getting himself suspended with a idiotic handball, Bale had to do it all on his own. He had some nice dribbles in the first half and drew a good save from Patricio with a dangerous shot from distance. The Portuguese continued to play non Portuguese football, another cross should have been put away by Ronaldo.
Attendance : 55,79
Assists : Guerreiro, Ronaldo