Determining the final semi-final pair at the 2022 World Cup

The eye-catching match on the night of December 10 between England and France left many regrets for those who love the Three Lions.

England were awarded two penalties in the match, and Kane was successful in the first penalty in the 57th minute. However, in the 83rd minute, the striker playing for Tottenham could not defeat goalkeeper Lloris, missing the opportunity to equalize 2-2 for the representative of the foggy country.

Giroud's joy after scoring against England.

Kane's unfortunate situation caused England to be eliminated in a match where they were not inferior in terms of game plan. The Three Lions had more possession and had twice as many shots as France, but still were eliminated.

On the other side, Les Bleus did not play as well as their opponents, but always knew how to score goals when attacking. In the 17th minute, Tchouameni prevented Pickford from keeping a clean sheet in the fourth consecutive match at the 2022 World Cup with a powerful kick from outside the box. In the 78th minute, Giroud clearly showed his high-class aerial ability with a header into the net after a cross from Griezmann.

Kane missed the penalty, causing England to stop.

In the final minutes, the match was dramatic, in which the highlight was Harry Kane's missed penalty kick. In the remaining minutes, Saka, Maguire and Rashford tried to increase the pressure on the opponent. The competition between the two representatives of European football ended with Rashford's shot hitting the crossbar with a direct free kick from a distance of 20m.

A 2-1 win over England put France into the semi-finals to face Morocco, after the African side had a surprise win over Portugal.

Morocco created an earthquake with a surprise victory over Portugal.

As expected, the African representatives still entered the game in the same way as they had played against Spain. Morocco actively withdrew their formation, creating a 2-layer defense with a very well-maintained formation distance. The distance between Morocco's lines was always guaranteed and this created a lot of difficulties for Portugal in finding a way to Bounou's goal. However, at least the 2016 European champions were not as deadlocked as Spain in the previous match.

In the first half, Portugal continued to create their own chances and most of them belonged to Joao Felix. In the 5th minute, Felix had a chance to shoot but could not beat the Moroccan goalkeeper. In the 31st minute, Felix got the ball close to the penalty area and immediately took a shot. Unfortunately for Felix, after the ball changed direction, it went over the crossbar. In the 39th minute, Portugal had the best chance of the match and Felix missed it. He received a cross in the penalty area but his shot went up in the air.

Holding the ball a lot and having opportunities but not taking advantage of them, Portugal immediately paid the price. In the 42nd minute, after a quick counter-attack, En-Nesyri took advantage of goalkeeper Costa's mistake to head the ball accurately, unexpectedly scoring the opening goal for Morocco. Being led by a defensively solid opponent like Morocco made things even more difficult for Portugal.

Right at the beginning of the second half, coach Santos made two changes to increase the attacking ability when he brought in Ronaldo and Cancelo. Meanwhile, Morocco suffered a serious loss when captain Romain Saiss was injured and had to leave the field in the 57th minute. From that moment on, many good opportunities were created by Portugal. However, Ramos and Bruno Fernandes both missed very regrettably. In the rare times Felix finished accurately, goalkeeper Bounou made excellent saves.

Morocco held the score 1-0 until the end of the match. Thus, Morocco created another shock in the World Cup when they eliminated Portugal. They became the first African team in history to reach the semi-finals of a World Cup. For Portugal, this was a convincing defeat. Ronaldo had a sad farewell to the last World Cup of his career.