The hosts France played the World Champions Germany at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille, the game was really exiting from the start and the French team opened like a bottle of champagne , asking several questions of the German defense. Germany dominated the entire half before a shock penalty decision gave France an unlikely lead. Griezmann doubled the French lead in the second half to send the hosts into the final. Here are the 5 things we learnt as France beat Germany
1) Germany faded away
After an initial spell of dominance from France, Germany had total control over the first half. They created several chances and forced Lloris to make a few saves. A poor judgement from captain Bastian Schweinsteiger gave Antoine Griezmann to step up from the spot and the Atletico Madrid striker made no mistakes. Germany looked shocked after that goal and never really recovered. They started the second half nervously and never looked like scoring
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2 )Didier Deschamps’s plan has worked all along
The French coach faced a dilemma against Iceland when two of his regulars Rami and N’Golo kante were suspended. He picked up Umtiti and Matuidi and stuck to the same XI today as well. His tactics worked really well and even when France were struggling in the middle of the first half, France kept their composure and looked strong at the back. Deschamps, who lifted the World Cup and the Euro as France Captain is now on his way to win the Championships as a manager.
3) Antoine Griezmann was on fire as France beat Germany
French Coach Deschamps dropped Antoine Griezmann after the first group game. Since then Griezmann has come back and hit scored in every game except against Switzerland. He is now the top goal scorer of the tournament with 6 goals , the most probable winner of the golden boot and quite possibly the best player of the tournament as well. His two goals lifted the French tonight and sent the World Champions home.
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4) Germany need to look ahead now
Germany’s world cup stars of 2014 looked weary at this year’s championships. Mesut Ozil was average in all the games he played , and only scored once in the entire tournament. Their top scorer in Brazil , Muller also had a tournament to forget and could not register a goal against his name. The bright side however is that Germany had 6 players under the age of 22 in their squad and Joachim Loew’s men must now look forward to defend their title in Russia in two years’ time.
5) Portugal vs France in the Final
The stage is set for the final. Cristiano Ronaldo’s misfiring portugal will face the hosts and outright favourites France. It will be interesting to see how Deschamps approaches such a big game , possibly France’s biggest since the 2006 WC final.
