With France beating Uruguay and Belgium stunning Brazil, the 2018 World Cup is officially out of South American teams, and we’ll have the first all-European semi finals since 2006, and with that, a European World Cup champion for the fourth consecutive time.
Uruguay 0 France 2 (Match Highlights)
Not having Edinson Cavani put Uruguay in an even more defensive-combative mode, one with which it was very difficult for them to go on the attack. France struggled breaking down the Uruguay defense, but a late first half goal by Raphael Varane put them in a very comfortable position. Hugo Lloris made an incredible save just before half time off a Martin Caceres header, followed by Diego Godin missing from point blank. That was Uruguay’s best, while France put the game to bed with 30 minutes to go after a terrible mistake by the usually solid Fernando Muslera, helping the French reach the semi’s for the first time since ’06.
Brazil 1 Belgium 2 (Match Highlights)
The pre-tournament favorites go home early for the fourth World Cup in a row, and for a third in four times without making the semi final. Brazil started well, but Thibaut Courtois was at his best, enabling Belgium to loosen up and be more on the attack, eventually getting the lead through a Fernandinho (the man playing instead of Casemiro) own goal. This put Brazil in a frantic mode, helping Belgium even more to counter attack, and one of those put them up by two goals, as Kevin de Bruyne capped off a terrific breakaway with an accurate shot to the corner. Brazil found a goal in the 76th minute (Renato Augusto) and had their chances in the final 20 minutes, but couldn’t beat Courtois, who leads Belgium to their first SF since 1986.
Up next: July 10, St. Petersburg, France vs Belgium
Save of the Day: Hugo Lloris, France
Courtois made a terrific save too, but Lloris is probably the finest of the tournament, not just the day.
Top Scorers
6 goals: Harry Kane (England)
4 goals: Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Romelu Lukaku (Belgium)
3 goals: Denis Cheryshev, Artem Dzyuba (Russia), Diego Costa (Spain), Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann (France), Edinson Cavani (Uruguay), Yerry Mina (Colombia)
2 goals: Mile Jedinak (Australia), Luka Modric (Croatia), Philippe Coutinho, Neymar (Brazil), Ahmed Musa (Nigeria), Eden Hazard (Belgium), John Stones (England), Luis Suárez (Uruguay), Mohamed Salah (Egypt), Son Heung-Min (South Korea), Andreas Granqvist (Sweden), Wahbi Khazri (Tunisia), Sergio Agüero (Argentina), Takashi Inui (Japan)
1 goal: Yuri Gazinsky, Aleksandr Golovin (Russia), Jose Maria Gimenez (Uruguay), Nacho, Isco, Iago Aspas (Spain), Paul Pogba, Benjamin Pavard, Raphael Varane (France), Lionel Messi, Marcos Rojo, Angel di Maria, Gabriel Mercado (Argentina), Alfred Finnbogason (Iceland), Christian Eriksen,Yussuf Poulsen, Mathias Jorgensen (Denmark), Aleksandar Kolarov, Aleksandar Mitrovic (Serbia), Hirving Lozano, Carlos Vela, Chicharito (México), Paulinho, Thiago Silva, Roberto Firmino, Renato Augusto (Brazil), Steven Zuber, Granit Xhaka, Xherdan Shaqiri, Blerim Dzemaili, Josip Drmic (Switzerland), Ola Toivonen, Ludwig Augustinsson, Emil Forsberg (Sweden), Dries Mertens, Michy Batshuayi, Adnan Januzaj, Jan Vertonghen, Marouane Fellaini, Nacer Chadli, Kevin de Bruyne (Belgium), Ferjani Sassi, Dylan Bronn, Fakhreddine Ben Youssef(Tunisia), Shinji Kagawa, Yuya Osaka, Keisuke Honda, Genki Haraguchi (Japan), Juan Quintero, Radamel Falcao, Juan Cuadrado (Colombia), M’Baye Niang, Sadio Mane, Moussa Wague (Senegal), Grzegorz Krychowiak, Jan Bednarek (Poland), Ante Rebic, Ivan Rakitic, Mario Mandzukic (Croatia), Kim Young-Gwon (South Korea), Marco Reus (Germany), Jesse Lingard (England), Felipe Baloy (Panama), Salman Al Faraj, Salem Al Dawsari (Saudi Arabia), Ricardo Quaresma, Pepe (Portugal), Khalid Boutaib, Youssef En-Nesyri (Morocco), Karim Ansarifard (Irán), Andre Carrillo, Paolo Guerrero (Peru), Victor Moses (Nigeria), Kendall Watson (Costa Rica)
Tomorrow’s Matches
Sweden vs England
Russia vs Croatia