Antoine Griezmann, the accidental midfield general, steers creaking France into another final
The tournament’s most creative player, with paintbrushes for football boots, won’t be credited with the final pass assist, but it was he who was arch creator, nonetheless.
Griezmann pulled the ball back and the whole stadium expected Mbappe to sweep it in but he made a surprise hash of it, the ball ballooning to the back post. So the first opposition player to score against Morocco in this World Cup was not Mbappe, or Olivier Giroud, or Ousmane Dembele, or even Griezmann, but Theo Hernandez – France’s left-back.
Griezmann has grown into his role as the tournament has rolled on. Against England, he was comfortable taking on the responsibility of those frequent and irritating little fouls that disrupted England’s play. Receiving a yellow card to certify his efforts. Against Morocco, there he was calmly placing his body between man and ball, midway into his own half, casually rolling his foot across the ball then stroking it out wide to Hernandez to spark yet another France attack that ended with Mbappe roasting Achraf Hakimi but unable to find a team-mate.
Yet for all France’s power and prowess in attack, they look worryingly weak at the back. Hugo Lloris has often been criticised for his uncertainty goal for Spurs, but he has been in sensational form for France. When Azzedine Ounahi broke free of France’s defence and shot low and hard for the far corner, Lloris was at full stretch to push it wide.
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