SEALED WITH A KISS
Hosts turn on style
HOSTS France last night secured a semi-final clash with Germany as a fivegoal salvo brought Iceland’s Euro 2016 adventure to a shuddering halt.
First-half goals from Olivier Giroud, Paul Pogba, Dimitri Payet and Antoine Griezmann left the team who beat England visibly shellshocked.
Kolbeinn Sigthorsson pulled a goal back at the start of the second period but a few minutes later Arsenal striker Giroud scored his second and France’s fifth.
The never-say-die attitude that has endeared Iceland to neutrals everywhere saw them score again through Birkir Bjarnason but their wonderful race had been run. Two-goal Giroud admitted
that world champions Germany will be formidable opponents in Marseille on Thursday but said Didier Deschamps’ team are ready to ‘write another chapter in French football history’. ‘We’re very pleased, we scored five goals,’ he said. ‘Although we did concede a couple we had a lot of fun and we are pleased with our performance. ‘We’re going to try and erase a few of these small defensive mistakes because against Germany we would pay a heavy price. ‘Are we confident? No, because they are the world champions and the favourites. But we’d like to write another chapter in French football history. ‘We came out fighting right from the outset. That was where we’ve been struggling since the beginning of the tournament.’ Manchester United target Pogba has flattered to deceive at times in this tournament, but the scorer of France’s second goal declared: ‘I was pretty good out there, but wherever the coach picks me I give 100 per cent. ‘I’m not going to say we will score five goals every game but we’re really pleased. In the last matches we started slowly, we did drop the tempo towards the end but you need to start and finish well and we’ll take that into the next game. ‘France are determined. We want to win because we are hosts, but we haven’t achieved anything yet.’ Iceland midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson said: ‘It’s been a fantastic tournament, something special for a small team like us, we probably achieved something no one expected us to.’