France beat Uruguay to reach World Cup semi-final against Brazil or Belgium

France set up a World Cup semi-final against either Belgium or Brazil with a 2-0 victory over Uruguay courtesy of goals from Raphael Varane and Antoine Griezmann.

Uruguay were without Paris Saint-Germain striker Edinson Cavani, scorer of their last three international goals, and they struggled in the face of physical defending from France.

It was Jose Gimenez who started this aggressive tone though, when he raked his studs down Olivier Giroud’s achilles just two minutes into the game. Antoine Griezmann delivered a ball into the box with a stuttering run, but to no effect.

Five minutes from half time, that stuttering delivery put off a group of Uruguayan defenders as Raphael Varane leapt to meet Griezmann’s cross from the right wing to glance an effort into the bottom corner.

France had to count on Hugo Lloris to pull off an astonishing stop from an almost mirror-image effort Martin Caceres, with Diego Godin then blasting the follow up miles over to keep France ahead in the moments before the first half whistle.

In the second half, Christhian Stuani failed to control a ball under little pressure, serving only to highlight how much Uruguay were missing Cavani. His absence left Luis Suarez isolated in attack, and France’s solidity seemed to kill off Uruguay’s hopes of getting back into the game with a moment of magic.

Defeat was made certain when Antoine Griezmann’s shot from distance swerved late away from Fernando Muslera, and the goalkeeper made an awful error by batting it into the back of the net, leaving Griezmann almost embarrassed to celebrate with his teammates. Cristian Rodriguez almost pulled one back seconds later, but his shot whistled past the post.

Tempers began to fray in the Uruguay ranks after Rodriguez lashed out at Kylian Mbappe following a piece of showboating, tempting Diego Godin in to goad Mbappe while he lay on the ground in pain – the furious Mbappe was booked as well as Rodriguez. Both Nahitan Nandez and Paul Pogba were lucky to avoid similar punishment as they grappled with one another in the fallout.

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AS IT HAPPENED: Uruguay v France

With five minutes of normal time remaining, France were happily keeping possession high up the pitch in Uruguay’s half. Uruguay, it seemed, had even lost the energy to kick out at their opponents in frustration – and Gimenez broke into tears long before the final whistle sounded.

This was a calm, organised and resilient performance from France, as the shape of their team has emerged with Griemann and Mbappe their key performers. While they will be hoping to face local rivals Belgium, they will certainly be Brazil’s toughest opponent of the tournament so far.