France’s Kylian Mbappe, right, and Antoine Griezmann celebrate after Raphael Varane, center, opened the scoring. (Petr David Josek/AP)
Uruguay vs. France
Quarterfinal, Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, Nizhny Novgorod
Goal!
Soon after the subs, Griezmann sends a knuckling line drive right at Muslera and … he completely flubs it, trying to swipe it away instead of controlling it and watching meekly as it goes over his right shoulder and into the goal. It’s 2-0 France. That’s brutal.
Double switch for Uruguay
Nearing the hour mark, Maxi Gomez replaces Cristhian Stuani (an ineffectual replacement for Cavani) while Christian Rodriguez comes in for Rodrigo Bentancur.
Second half is underway
No lineup changes for either team.
Halftime: France 1, Uruguay 0
Varane’s goal and then Lloris’s big save moments later have been the difference for France, which is finding holes in Uruguay’s suddenly patchy defense. Uruguay, meanwhile, has had the better scoring chances but not a whole lot of possession. Suarez has been mostly absent.
France has never lost a World Cup match when leading at the break (19-1-0).
Full extension for Lloris
In the 44th minute, off a free kick, Lloris has to make a ludicrous dive to block away Caceres’s header. One of the better saves we’ve seen in Russia.
Goal!
On the ensuing free kick after Bentancur’s yellow card, Griezmann’s stutter-step delivery seems to confuse the Uruguayan line of defense. Varane finds space and his header gets past Muslera. It’s 1-0, France, and Uruguay trails for the first time in this World Cup.
Now a yellow for Bentancur
Two minutes later, Bentancur takes a sloppy swipe at Tolisso from behind and is assessed a yellow. He’ll miss the next match, if Uruguay has one.
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Yellow for Hernandez
In the 33rd minute, Hernandez gets his pocket picked by Nandez and then blatantly tugs him down by the jersey as he sprints with the ball down the field (it was strong enough to rip his shirt). It’s an easy yellow card for the Frenchman.
Shaky pitch?
Fox Sports’ Tony Meola, relaying info from sideline reporter Jenny Taft, reports that the field is a little roughed up, especially around the middle. We’ve seen lots of players hit the deck so far.
Also, there are bugs:
Opening for Les Bleus
In the 15th minute, Giroud heads the ball to a wide-open Mbappe, who has to slow his run and gets no power on his own head attempt on goal. It’s France’s best chance so far, and a rather uncharacteristic lapse from Uruguay’s defense, but nothing comes of it.
Early tangle
Olivier Giroud gets caught up with Jose Gimenez off the ball and goes down clutching his leg. He’s up after a bit.
Opening thoughts
Uruguay’s worst fears were realized Thursday when news broke that star striker Edinson Cavani was likely to miss Friday’s quarterfinal against France because of a calf injury suffered in its round-of-16 win over Portugal. Cristhian Stuani replaced Cavani after he suffered the injury against Portugal and will slide into the starting lineup against France. Cavani scored both of his team’s goals in the Portugal game and has three of Uruguay’s seven for the tournament, so his finishing presence obviously will be missed, though Stuani scored 19 goals for La Liga side Girona in 2017-18.
Cavani did send out a rallying cry to Uruguay’s fans on Twitter, writing “we always feel your heat in each game.”
It’s been defense, however, that has carried Uruguay to the round of eight, as it has conceded just one goal in its four previous matches, tying Brazil for the fewest allowed. The task Friday will be bottling up France’s Kylian Mbappe, who became the second teenager in history to score twice in a World Cup game in Les Blues’ round-of-16 win over Argentina (joining some guy named Pele). Argentina gave Mbappe too much room to roam, something Uruguay will look to avoid.
“If you let France have space it will be very difficult,” Uruguay Manager Oscar Tabarez said this week.
Both sides have historical trends that point in their favor. France enters with a nine-match unbeaten run against South American teams at the World Cup, last failing to defeat a CONMEBOL side in the 1978 group stage. Uruguay, meanwhile, has advanced to the semifinals in five of its past six trips to the quarterfinals.
Starting lineups
Uruguay: Muslera, Gimenez, Godin, Caceres, Bentancur, Nandez, Torreira, Vecino, Laxalt, Suarez, Stuani.
France: Lloris, Pavard, Varane, Umtiti, Hernandez, Pogba, Tolisso, Kante, Griezmann, Giroud, Mbappe.
Of note: Stuani fills in for Cavani on Uruguay’s attacking line. For France, Corentin Tolisso replaces Blaise Matuidi, the central midfielder who is sitting out on a yellow-card suspension. Tolisso has played all of 15 minutes in Russia, and Nabil Fekir is seen as a possible substitute as the game goes on.
Nestor Pitana of Argentina is your head referee. He’s a former actor, which might come in handy should the players start embellishing things a bit too much.
When: Friday, 10 a.m. Eastern.
How to watch on TV: FS1.
How to stream online: Fox Sports, the Fox Soccer Match Pass apps and FoxSportsGo.com.
How to watch in Spanish: Telemundo.
How to watch in Canada: Bell Media’s TSN and CTV networks, the TSN GO app and TSN.ca/live.
What’s next
The winner will face the Brazil-Belgium winner in the semifinals Tuesday in St. Petersburg.
[Here’s the full bracket and schedule]
Team profiles
Uruguay
- Previous results: Defeated Egypt, 1-0. Defeated Saudi Arabia, 1-0. Defeated Russia, 3-0. Defeated Portugal, 2-1, in the round of 16.
- Best World Cup finish: Champion, 1930, 1950.
- Notable: It’s the second time over the last three World Cups that Uruguay has advanced to at least the quarterfinals.
- FIFA world ranking: 14. Elo world ranking: 5.
France
- Previous results: Defeated Australia, 2-1. Defeated Peru, 1-0. Drew with Denmark, 0-0. Defeated Argentina, 4-3, in the round of 16.
- Best World Cup finish: Champion, 1998.
- Notable: Les Bleus now have advanced to at least the quarterfinals three times since their championship in 1998.
- FIFA world ranking: 7. Elo world ranking: 2.
Players to watch
With Cavani out, everyone will be watching to see if Luis Suarez can pick up the slack up top for Uruguay. He’s scored twice in Russia and provided the pass that allowed Cavani to score his opening goal against Portugal. He also has yet to produce the antics that were his weird signature: His deliberate hand ball in the box against Ghana in the 2010 quarterfinals, the biting incident against Italy four years ago, etc. “I have to be one of the calm ones, because there are a lot of youngsters here now in the squad, some for the first time. I must lead by example,” Suarez told reporters this week. “With so many games in the national squad, I’ve learned a lot about how to handle this situation.”
France star Antoine Griezmann, meanwhile, has not scored from the run of play yet in the tournament, with his two tallies coming from the penalty spot. He’ll be going up against Uruguay captain Diego Godin, his Atletico Madrid teammate and the godfather of his daughter. In fact, Griezmann has had so many Uruguayan coaches and teammates over his pro career in Spain that he’s developed an affection for mate, a caffeinated drink popular in Uruguay, and speaks Spanish with a Uruguayan accent.
“Griezmann is very Uruguayan. He tries to look Uruguayan,” Uruguay midfielder Nahitan Nandez told reporters with a wink this week. “It could be a very special match for him. We hope that he behaves well on the field and that he remembers that he is Uruguayan.”
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