Having soaked up endless pressure against Germany in the semi-final before winning 2-0 in Marseille, France will now be expected to turn the tables and win by playing on the front foot against Portugal.
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Antoine Griezmann took up the mantle as challenger-in-chief to Cristiano Ronaldo with two goals that crushed world champions Germany and saw France into Sunday’s (Monday in Manila) Euro 2016 finals against Portugal. His nickname, Raumdeuter, means “space investigator” or “space inventor” and that hints of the subtle aspects of his game that so infuriate both opponents and Germany fans, and while Muller was able to find space throughout this competition his lack of finish was startling.
For years, I have been banging on to anyone who would listen ― and plenty who wouldn’t ― about the talents of Antoine Griezmann. “Now you have to hope that he’s not going to score”, the Arsenal great said. From day one, we felt good, secure and very welcome.
“But we’re even prouder to be on the pitch, to really feel the entire French population behind us, to feel this happiness which is really shared between the players and the French people”.
“That gives us strength and is lovely to see. It was bad luck”, he added. “Possession does not win you football matches and that was shown against Germany, when we were ready to run”.
“Today, we didn’t have the luck we needed”, he said.
The players went on strike at the 2010 World Cup following a dispute between striker Nicolas Anelka and the manager of the time Raymond Domenech.
Loew felt the departure of the injured Boateng had been significant.
Les Bleus will need to improve its use of the ball against Portugal, and this could lead to Deschamps bringing N’Golo Kante back into the side at the expense of Moussa Sissoko, who wasted good attacking positions against Germany with some sloppy passes. “There is nothing to blame them for”, he said.
The “stupid incident” was Nicola Rizzoli’s controversial penalty decision just before the half-time break.
Without wanting to sound smug, I’ve known that for a very long time.
But Loew knows the world champions lost their heads when the penalty was awarded against them and never fully regained their composure. You can not buy experience. It was his hand that got him and his team into trouble. In a home game against Real Valladolid, Griezmann scored an astonishing goal, running onto a 50-yard aerial ball, controlling it in mid-air and, without breaking stride, volleying it calmly past the disbelieving opposing goalkeeper.
“We tried everything in the second half”. We have done a great deal of work to be here six years later in the final and we want to put a smile on the faces of the French people and show a new image.
“It clearly left its mark on French football”, he said.
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It was Griezmann’s stooping header in April that knocked Barcelona from the UEFA Champions League quarter-final; in France, he has been nearly unerringly accurate, with headed goals against Albania and the Republic of Ireland; he should have had one more but hit the post in the group game against Romania.
