“This is a great story, the players wrote history by knocking out Germany”, added Deschamps.
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The problem is that Portugal likes to grind teams down, patiently waiting for the moment to pick out a run from Cristiano Ronaldo. According to 888sport Euro odds, France is the heavy favorite to bring the title home 16 years after their last trophy, also the Euro in 2000.
Griezmann, however, only needs to glimpse into Ronaldo’s early career to see how a host nation can be upstaged in a European Championship final. It was a very hard match and Germany had the most chances in the first half, controlling the ball and tempo with nearly 65% possession of the ball.
He had already scored 40 goals this season. Unfortunately, he inadvertently hit the ball with his hand, and he did it in the penalty box.
While a repeat of the Brazil rout was never on the cards, Germany could have scored a few times as they dominated the first half, but they were denied by poor shooting from Thomas Mueller, who ended his tournament scoreless, and a save by Hugo Lloris to block Emre Can’s bouncing shot. Germany continued to have most of the ball in the second half but couldn’t test Hugo Lloris.
“I always trusted my players and this is their reward”.
The 5-2 demolition of Iceland was a fine attacking display while their semi-final victory showcased how resolute their defensive line could be in the face of sustained pressure from the world champions.
“We had Hummels suspended and we lost (Jerome) Boateng with injury during the game, so we were missing four players at the end”. We had the best conditions in Evian-les-Bains. Germany coach Joachim Löw maintained that they were the better team and the players did everything he had asked them to, but for converting the chances.
And Kroos reacted: “We delivered our best performance at Euro 2016 today so it’s unusual that we suffered a 2-0 defeat”. Portugal earned their spot first on Wednesday when they blanked upstart Wales, and France advanced after doing the same to Germany on Thursday.
“But we still have one step to take”.
“That wasn’t the case today, but we didn’t have the luck you need”. This team has everything it takes to be loved.
“We didn’t discuss it beforehand, but maybe in two or three days, we’ll talk about it”. It’s an important step forward but the most important step is Sunday.
“We took French football to an all-time low, we showed a very bad image. We have to keep our feet on the ground and prepare for this final”. “We don’t think about this type of criticisms. we want to win to make the Portuguese happy and go down in history”.
German coach Loew said his team had been the better of the two.
“It was unfortunate that we conceded the goal”.
“We are extremely happy and it was attractive to live it”, said Griezmann. “Playing a final is great but it’s winning it that counts”.
“We tried everything in the second half”.
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“This was a good tournament for us”. A goal on either side of halftime from Antoine Griezmann saw the French reach the final, to be played against Portugal on the 11th of July.
