France storm back to down Ireland
Germany thump Slovakia
Hosts France came from behind to beat 10-man Ireland 2-1 and reach the Euro 2016 quarter-finals after two second-half strikes from forward Antoine Griezmann at Parc OL yesterday.
A tactical switch from coach Didier Deschamps at the break revitalised the French, who struggled to find their feet early on after conceding a Robbie Brady penalty in the second minute, the fastest goal in the 2016 tournament.
France will play either England or Iceland at the Stade de France next Monday.
‘‘We have difficulties getting into games, we saw that again today, and that’s something we have to work on,’’ said Griezmann.
"Finding ourselves trailing made it difficult but we showed we’ve got heart. Things were said in the dressing room at halftime and in the second half, it was a different France team.’’
It was the worst possible start for the hosts when midfielder Paul Pogba clumsily barged over Ireland’s Shane Long in the penalty area, allowing Brady to dispatch the resulting spot kick to go 1-0 up on the second minute.
Finding themselves behind for the first time in the tournament, the hosts seemed to lack the urgency to wrestle control of a stop-start first half.
Their best chances fell to Griezmann who headed over the bar from close range, while a late strike by Dimitri Payet whacked into the Irish defence who desperately guarded their goal.
At the other end, Ireland didn’t really threaten apart from a bouncing shot from striker Daryl Murphy that forced keeper Hugo Lloris to dive to his left.
A flat first half ended with the French players trudging off to the noise of loud booing from the packed home support.
Deschamps switched things up Germany thumped Slovakia 3-0 with goals from Jerome Boateng, Mario Gomez and Julian Draxler to cruise into the Euro 2016 quarterfinals yesterday and confirm their status as tournament favourites with a sparkling performance.
Central defender Boateng, who had been passed fit after an injury, connected perfectly with a clearance in the eighth minute to volley home from 25 metres for his first international goal as the world champions took control from the start.
The Germans, who next face either holders Spain or Italy, saw Mesut Ozil’s weak 13th minute penalty saved but Gomez made no mistake two minutes from halftime when he tapped home a perfect cut back from the marauding Julian Draxler.
Draxler, coming into the starting lineup for the lacklustre Mario Goetze, was then left with far too much space at the far post to volley in their third just past the hour as the Germans kept a fourth straight clean sheet at the finals.
Comfortable with either foot, the winger utilised his speed and intelligence to good effect, helping his side pin the Slovaks in their own half for much of the opening period.
after the break, bringing on flying winger Kingsley Coman for holding midfielder N’golo Kante and moving playmaker Pogba into the middle and Griezmann into a more central role behind strike partner Olivier Giroud.
The strategy paid dividends immediately as France stretched a tiring Ireland.
Griezmann equalised in the 58th minute from a Bacary Sagna cross, and then fired his team in front three minutes later when Giroud nodded the ball down into his path.
Boateng opened the scoring with a deflected volley following a corner and ran to celebrate with team doctor Hans-wilhelm Muellerwohlfahrt, who helped him recover from a muscle injury sustained in their last group game with Northern Ireland.
Slovakia may have got the better of the Germans in a pre-euro 2016 friendly but, apart from a few forays forward, they were all at sea.
Five minutes before halftime Juraj Kucka forced a flying save from Germany captain Manuel Neuer as he sent Peter Pekarik’s cross toward the top corner.
Germany hit back immediately, Draxler turning Kucka inside out before squaring for Gomez to stab the ball home from close range to make it 2-0.
Slovakia were marginally better in the second half but when the excellent Draxler hooked a volley into the top corner in the 63rd minute there was no way back for the Slovakians.
Draxler and Boateng were replaced by Lukas Podolski and Benedikt Hoewedes nine minutes later as the game took on the air of a friendly with Germany’s place in the last eight against Spain or Italy already booked.
Another surging run from Griezmann saw him chopped down on the edge of the area by Shane Duffy, earning the defender a red card as the game started to look beyond the Irish.
All was forgiven by the French crowd, who broke into a deafening Marseillaise and cheered their team all the way to their first knockout stage win in the competition since winning Euro 2000.
On a bum note, though, Kante and defender Adil Rami picked up yellow cards and will miss the quarterfinal through suspension.