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Griezmann's double strike sends France into Euro 2016 quarters

By Ians English

Lyon (France), June 26: France conjured up a masterful display to outclass Ireland 2-1 and enter the quarter-finals of the Euro 2016 football tournament at the Stade de Lyon here on Sunday.

Euro 2016: Round of 16 line-up, fixtures, start times in ISTEuro 2016: Round of 16 line-up, fixtures, start times in IST

Antoine Griezmann scores on a header during the Euro 2016 round of 16 soccer match between France and Ireland, at the Grand Stade in Decines-Charpieu, near Lyon, France, on June 26, 2016.


The early setback forced the hosts to go on the offensive in search of the equaliser. They enjoyed better possession throughout the game, but some sturdy defending by Ireland kept them at bay in the first half.

Deschamps made an attacking change at the break, replacing N'Golo Kante with 20-year-old sensation Kingsley Coman. That proved to be decisive as the recent Bayen Munich recruit provided an extra cutting edge to the French forwardline.

The equaliser seemed almost imminent as the French continued to chip away at the Ireland defence. An attempt from distance by Pogba flew just wide of the post, another by Blaise Matuidi was palmed away by Irish goalkeeper Darren Randolph.

Griezmann finally broke the desparate Irish resistance with a couple of superb strikes in a space of three minutes.

Bacary Sagna made a powerful run down the right before whipping in a cross which was met with a excellent header by Griezmann.

Just three minutes later, Olivier Giroud used his strength to head down Rami's cross from the deep to set up Griezmann, who surged into the area, dribbled past Randolph and found the bottom-right corner with a precise left-footed finish.

The Irish never recovered from the double blow.

With France dominating possession, the action was mostly confined inside the Ireland half. The Irish were facing an uphill battle and their task was made even more difficult in the 66th minute when Shane Duffy was shown the red card for a clumsy, off the ball challenge on Griezmann.

France almost added a fourth in the 76th minute. Coman set Andre-Pierre Gignac clear inside the Irish penalty area with a defence splitting pass, but Randolph somehow managed to avert the danger. But the ball was not cleared away properly and Matuidi hit the bar with a rasping shot from the edge of the box.

Soon after, a sliding Griezmann missed out a hattrick by mere inches when he could not a curving cross into the six-yard box by Gignac with Randolph virtually at his mercy.

Randolph produced an excellent save to deny Griezmann in the final minute of regulation time. But the Frenchman would certainly not mind that as France kept on track to capture their second major trophy on home soil since the 1998 World Cup.

IANS
Story first published: Tuesday, August 8, 2017, 11:47 [IST]
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