BHARGAB SARMAH

SAINT PETERSBURG: Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois’ ‘antifootball’ barb at France after losing their closely-contested semifinal 1-0, at the Krestovsky Stadium here on Tuesday, revealed how frustrating it can be to play Didier Deschamps’ team.

France came into the World Cup with arguably the strongest squad in the tournament. However, Deschamps’ side has looked visibly reserved in Russia. Barring a 4-3 win over Argentina in the Round of 16, their attack has not been the most pleasing.

Instead, France have preferred playing a waiting game like they did against Roberto Martinez’s Belgium.

The Belgians, led by Eden Hazard, started well. France sat back, eager not to cede any opening to opponents who had devoured Brazil in a frenetic first half of the quarter-final.

In the first half-an-hour, the only peep France had at the opposition’s goal was when Paul Pogba danced past a couple of midfielders and sent Kylian Mbappe through. Alert to the danger, Courtois promptly dashed forward and collected.

Then as the game progressed, France spotted a few openings. First, Olivier Giroud got to the end of a Benjamin Pavard cross but headed wide. Then, the Chelsea forward failed to finish an Mbappe cross from the right.

To compound matters for Belgium, France had identified their weak link. Mousa Dembele has been an immense figure at Tottenham Hotspur in recent seasons but was a shadow of his usual self in the semi-final.

Griezmann and Pogba, and occasionally Blaise Matuidi, targeted Dembele, drawing fouls from him and disrupting Bel-