Agencies
Marseille, July 8: Till the added on time in the first session, he was the king on the pitch during the France-Germany Euro 2016 semifinal here Thursday night. He was like Zubin Mehta conducting the Mozart’s Symphony as the German eleven on the ground completely monopolised the show. Then one moment of error-filled madness changed the whole complexion of the game.
Till then Bastian Schweinsteiger, the German skipper was turning out to be a hard bastion to crack. Playing the role of a holding midfielder he was orchestrating proceedings, be it offence or defence. At one moment he could be seen in front of the three German backs in his own middle third. The next moment he would be deep down in the French half floating dangerous crosses for Thomas Mueller or Julian Darxler.
But then the football gods had destined otherwise and written the script for Antoine Griezmann. Schweinsteiger needlessly handled a corner and Italian ref Nicola Rizzoli had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Up stepped Griezmann and coolly wrong-footed Manuel Neuer to put the French up with the last kick of the first session, something that hadn’t remotely looked possible till then.
Then in the 72nd minute Neuer made the blunder of failing to fist Paul Progba’s cross and Griezmann was at the right to poke it into the German net to end the long French wait of 58 years of defeating the Germans in a major tournament. They will now meet Portugal in the final Sunday at Paris, with the goal of ending a 16-year wait for a major trophy.
World Champions Germany dominated in terms of possession but their lack of a deadly finisher cost them and the razor-sharp Griezmann, whose double took his tournament-leading goal tally to six, was the difference.
“We are extremely happy and it was beautiful to live it,” said Griezmann. “But there is still one match left. We have to keep our feet on the ground and from tomorrow (Friday) let’s prepare for this final.”
It was the first time France defeated Germany in a competitive match since the 1958 World Cup, a drought that included defeats in the semifinals of the 1982 and 1986 World Cups and the quarterfinals two years ago.
“I have played in many finals, most of them on the pitch. Now I’m on the bench,” said France coach Didier Deschamps, captain of the victorious 1998 and 2000 squads. “We deserve it. We played the best team in the world and we knocked them out. Yes, we suffered, but we never gave up. I always trusted my players and this is their reward.”
Germany will look at the statistics and wonder how they failed to score. They had quite a few chances in the second session, half chances if one may term those.
The result was the same as when the teams met in a friendly here in November but that night will be remembered for the death and destruction caused when Islamist militants struck at the stadium and other locations around the city. Eight months on, Les Bleus will return to the Stade de France here in very different circumstances.
Mr Extra turns indispensable
He rejected comparisons with Michel Platini but Antoine Griezmann is fast becoming a France legend after a two-goal haul against Germany fired the hosts into Sunday’s Euro 2016 final against Portugal.
Amid the controversial absence of Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema, France have found a new hero in the diminutive striker. With six goals already in his first European Championship, Griezmann is only three short of equalling Platini’s record of nine goals at the 1984 tournament.
“He’s a great player. He showed what kind of generous player he is tonight (Thursday),” said France coach Didier Deschamps. “In this Euro, he’s been decisive for us. He can score, and he can help others score.”
Benzema, who was sidelined from the squad before the tournament over his alleged role in the sextape blackmail of teammate Mathieu Valbuena, tweeted his congratulations to the team Thursday. “Come on, just one match to go!!!” he said.
But Benzema could not be further from most fans’ thoughts. Now, Les Bleus is just Griezmann and only Griezmann. He missed a penalty for Atletico Madrid in the Champions League final against Real Madrid. But there was no hesitancy when he stepped up to take the penalty against Germany. “I wanted to take a penalty again in an important moment and I’m happy I did, and happy I scored,” the striker said.
“He took his responsibilities well, to take the penalty and slam it in the back of the net,” said striker Olivier Giroud, who like Benzema has been left in the shade by the little forward. “He’s lethal when he’s in the penalty box, and he got his second goal. He’s our little Mr Extra,” added Giroud. “He’s got stronger and stronger to silence his critics.”
Unexpected low for manager Loew
Germany coach Joachim Loew refused to commit himself to stay beyond the next World Cup campaign as he picked through the wreckage of the country’s Euro 2016 exit.
Asked about whether he intended to stay on after the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Loew said: “I’m still disappointed after the defeat tonight (Thursday) so I don’t want to think about that. How I cope with that is difficult to answer, we haven’t discussed beforehand what we would do after a loss, we will talk about that in a few days. Even though we lost, this has been a good tournament for us.”
Loew said his players were bitterly disappointed at the defeat having had the lion’s share of possession in the game. “We played well up front and we were unlucky to concede a penalty with the handball just a minute before the break,” stated the German manager.
“I don’t want to say anything about referee’s decisions. If you see the way Schweinsteiger went in, he didn’t have time to react and he was just unlucky. “You could say his hands couldn’t have been up, but there is little he can do to control them, so I can’t blame him for that,” added Loew.
Loew was forced into several changes by injury in the quarterfinal to midfielder Sami Khedira and striker Mario Gomez, plus the loss of Mats Hummels to suspension. During the game, the Germans also lost Jerome Boateng with a hamstring injury.
“We had Hummels suspended and we lost (Jerome) Boateng with injury during the game, so we were missing four players at the end. We showed a lot of courage so there is nothing to criticise the team for,” informed Loew.