‘An unbelievable feeling to score’ says Giroud as France do their dancing in the dressingroom

This set of quarter-finals in Qatar brought the drama like maybe never before at this stage of the World Cup.

We had Argentina winning, losing and then winning their tie against the Netherlands; Morocco becoming the first African side to win a last eight tie; the samba drum beat and dancing of Brazil silenced by Croatia who make it back-to-back semi-finals and then to the final last eight game which went the way of France against England but only just.

It was the tale of two strikers getting their 53^rd international goals for their countries. While Harry Kane scored his first penalty to draw level with Wayne Rooney as the most prolific English male player, he missed his second penalty to draw clear one clear and that ultimately cost England.

Olivier Giroud meanwhile extended his tally at the top of the French marksman list as he proved the match winner. France did their dancing in their own dressing room after Saturday night’s 2-1 win over England which sets up next Wednesday’s semi-final against Morocco.

Asked about to compare his 52^nd and 53^rd goal for Les Blues in the post-match press conference Giroud said that: “Both goals were important. That fact I went ahead of Thierry Henry (in the French goalscoring chart) for the 52^nd goal was a relief and it got us on the right foot against Poland (in their 3-1 win last 16 clash).

“The 53^rd was better. Just before I had a chance that I tried to place and I should have hit harder. I thought I might get another chance and I did just after. It was an unbelievable feeling to score,” said Giroud about heading home the winner in the 78^th minute from an Antoine Griezmann cross.

“There was singing and dancing after with an outburst of emotion in the dressing room. We will relax tonight but we will get back to work tomorrow. We need to enjoy this moment but we need to be ready for Wednesday’s game. We have two more matches and we hope to go all the way.

Thoughts immediately turned to Morocco with Didier Deschamps not given much time to reflect on their win over England with the first couple of questions in the post-match press conference all about their upcoming opponents who overcame Portugal 1-0 in the earlier quarter-final.

“We are already talking about Morocco rather than England I see,” said Deschamps. “Few people expected to see Morocco in the semi-final but they deserve to be there. They have only conceded one goal (which was in their 2-1 win over Canada).

“It is fantastic what they have achieved. They have played and beaten some of the best teams in the world (with wins over Belgium, Spain and Portugal). It is a historic achievement. We have seen them put in a number of top performances. They haven’t stolen those wins.”

France are now two victories from becoming the first side in sixty years to retain the World Cup but Deschamps isn’t looking too far ahead, happy that his team became the first champion to go beyond the quarter-final stage this century.

“It is four years after winning the World Cup and now we are in the last four. In the past the world champions haven’t done well in the next World Cup. We can’t get carried away. We are getting closer to the final and it was an important achievement tonight but we have to play again on Wednesday.”

World Cup report: England 1 - 2 France https://t.co/t2EKD4B6h6pic.twitter.com/q5izlBx3Yh

— Extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) December 10, 2022