Uruguay played France in the first quarterfinals match of the 2018 World Cup.
Uruguay was without the injured Edinson Cavani who scored 2 goals in the last 16 to overcome Portugal while France did not have Blaise Matuidi due to a suspension for gaining yellow cards in consecutive matches.
The game started rather conservative with both teams testing each other but with no real chances until the 36th minute when Matias Vecino salvaged a shot after a poor clearance by the French defence but was easily saved by the French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
France finally broke the deadlock in the 40th minute from a set piece.
Antoine Griezmann took a stutter to shake the Uruguayan high line which allowed Raphael Varane to header the ball into the corner of the goal making it Uruguay 0-1 France 5 minutes before halftime.
Uruguay responded positively after conceding just before halftime with Lucas Torreira swinging a freekick into the box for Martin Caceres header brilliantly saved by Lloris and Diego Godin made a mess with the rebound by booting the ball straight up in front of the goal.
The first half ended with France in the lead.
Uruguay started the second half by not playing nice with constants fouls and trying to make the game at their own pace.
However, in the 61st minute, Antoine Griezmann who is known to loving Uruguayan culture broke their hearts after receiving the ball from Corentin Tolisso, he took a shot from the outside the box, but the Uruguayan goalkeeper Fernando Muslera made a mess of it.
What seemed to be a simple save with Griezmann’s shot went directly towards the keeper, but Muslera could not wrap his hands around the ball and went into the net making it Uruguay 0-2 France.
The game ended with France proceeding into the semifinals while Uruguay goes home.
Source of image: BBC
Leave a Reply
Want to join the discussion?Feel free to contribute!