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France 2-0 Germany: Griezmann leads France into Euro final

By on July 8, 2016

In early 2005, a one-off show called Le Plus Grand Français aired on French television. The show polled French viewers on whom they thought was the greatest Frenchman or Frenchwoman of all-time and tallied their final list of 100 candidates, which was presented at the French Senate. The results included two footballers: Michel Platini and Zinedine Zidane.

The history of French football glistens with many legendary figures but Platini and Zidane stand apart in the pantheon of football gods for delivering their country glory on the international stage, capturing two European Championship titles and a World Cup combined.

Now, however, a burgeoning generation of French footballers is threatening to gatecrash the party, led by Antonio Griezmann. The Atletico Madrid midfielder scored both goals in France’s 2-0 victory over Germany in the Euro 2016 semifinals to book tickets to their country’s first major tournament final since the days of Zidane.

Germany’s methodical build-up play was outdone by France’s high-energy, quick breakaways, typified by Greizmann’s opportunistic attacks. Griezmann ran the show for France in the middle and the game got off to an electric start when he forced Manuel Neuer into a good stop early on having burst through the middle six minutes in.

It was end-to-end football and Thomas Müller dragged a low effort just wide from Emre Can’s cutback before Hugo Lloris blocked Can’s low volley from the edge of the box.

Dimitri Payet tested Neuer with a long-range free-kick in the twenty-fourth minute but the opener didn’t come until first-half stoppage time when Griezmann buried a penalty after Patrice Evra’s header was blocked by the hand of Bastian Schweinsteiger in the box.

Griezmann made it two on the other side of the half with a neat tap-in from Paul Pogba’s deflected cross after Joshua Kimmich gave he ball away in a dangerous area.

Kimmich nearly made up for his mistake moments later with a lovely curling effort form the edge of the box but the ball nicked off of the woodwork. Julian Draxler also came close form a long-distance free-kick but Germany, interestingly, had trouble adapting their game as they became more and more desperate. They sorely missed the absence of Mario Gomes up top and it was telling that their biggest threat on the attack was Kimmich bouncing up from the wing. With moments to go he forced Lloris into an incredible stop with a powerful header from the center of the box but France bravely held onto the win.

France’s young team might not have the reputation of their predecessors but they’re quickly forging their own legacy and a win in Sunday’s final against Portugal would cement their names in the history of French football.

Homepage photo credit: globalite [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.