Goal-fest possible
France to play Belgium Tuesday in World Cup semifinal
Considering the attacking strength of France and Belgium, there’s potential for a goal-fest when the European neighbours meet in the World Cup semifinals. There was less at stake the last time the teams last went headto-head at the World Cup, a 4-2 victory for France in the thirdplace match in 1986. That was the last competitive match between the two countries but there have been eight international friendlies since. Belgium won two of those, including the last one: an exhibition three years ago at Stade de France when the Belgians took a threegoal lead five minutes into the second half and held on to win 4-3. With the second-youngest roster at the World Cup, France has shown no fear and advanced to its first World Cup semifinal since 2006 led by 19-year-old forward Kylian Mbappe and a pair of inexperienced attacking fullbacks in Benjamin Pavard and Lucas Hernandez. “We’re not scared of anyone,” Pavard said. “We’ve been confident from the start and we’re not asking any questions of ourselves.” Coach Didier Deschamps, who was captain when France won the 1998 World Cup and the 2000 European Championship, has instilled a steely mentality. “He motivates the troops with strong words,” Pavard said. “We’re ready to go to war with him.”
CONFIDENT COACHING
Deschamps made bold decisions to start Pavard on the right and Lucas Hernandez on the left. The pair, both 22, have only 20 international appearances between them but are playing with good composure. In Belgium, there were doubts about Roberto Martinez’s ability to transfer the country’s individual talent into a collective force. Fans welcomed his arrival in August 2016 with lukewarm enthusiasm because he’d only recently been fired by Everton in the Premier League. His tenure began with a 2-0 home loss to Spain, but since then Belgium is unbeaten in 23 games and has scored 78 goals – being held scoreless in only one of those games. With former France striker Thierry Henry as an assistant coach, Belgium leads the scoring in Russia with 14 goals in its five World Cup matches. “He’s given the team the desire to attack,” French Football Federation president Noel Le Graet said of Henry’s influence on the Belgian team. “The forwards go to see him. He’s held in high esteem.”
LLORIS VS. COURTOIS
Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and France No. 1 Hugo Lloris could be busy. Lloris has been criticized during the past year after errors for France and Tottenham. In France’s World Cup opener against Australia, he let a long shot go past him and watched in relief as it hit the crossbar. But Lloris appeared to be at his commanding best in the quarter-final win over Uruguay, rushing off his line to push away a low cross and later making a superb low save. Belgium has height and head- ing ability in defenders Vincent Kompany and Jan Vertonghen and Marouane Fellaini. Courtois entered the tournament as one of the top goalkeepers and has enhanced reputation with an outstanding quarter-final performance against Brazil. French striker Olivier Giroud thinks Lloris has the edge over Courtois, his club teammate at Chelsea. “They’re both very good on their line, but Hugo is more explosive,” Giroud said. “The best is Hugo. Sorry, Thibaut.”