England suffered a familiar tournament fate, but a completely different feeling. The margins have rarely been so fine. And Bukayo Saka was utterly brilliant. 16 Conclusions are up:
8) The forlorn slide tackle from Declan Rice was particularly sad, the West Ham midfielder bouncing off Mbappe as the France forward advanced. That was one of Rice’s two mistakes, the other being a mistimed header directly after England’s equaliser.
Saka was fouled more than any player on either side – and the four free-kicks he won were at least two or three short of a deserved number which did not include a rough Dayot Upamecano challenge shortly before France’s opening goal. Not be deterred, Kane almost scored with a deflected effort, before converting his first penalty confidently. His hold-up play was characteristically excellent, he won fouls when necessary and he dropped deep to incredible effect. But that second spot-kick will live longer than he would care to imagine in the memory.
Pickford might keep that constant strive for perfection in assessing the two goals, for which his role has come into question. But he saw an powerful and accurate Tchouameni hit late, while Giroud’s header took a deflection and the save which preceded it and conceded the corner was necessary rather than for the cameras.
The former did not create a huge amount but still won two penalties, hit the post, were kept out by a couple of fine saves and must have been celebrating when Shaw’s low cross almost reached Saka at the back post, only for Hernandez to defend well.
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