Heartbreak for England as France defeat Three Lions in dramatic quarter final after Kane misses late penalty
10 December 2022, 17:53 | Updated: 10 December 2022, 22:19
England are out of the World Cup after being defeated by France in the quarter final, with Harry Kane missing a late penalty.
Gareth Southgate's side outclassed the French for long stretches, but moments of quality from Olivier Giroud and Aurélien Tchouaméni proved the difference.
Both sides were threatening, but France opened the scoring in the 17th minute with a thunderbolt from Tchouaméni from outside the box.
England continued to be frustrated, but appeared galvanised after the break carving out a number of chances.
And they were rewarded for their positivity, earning a penalty on 52 minutes after Bukayo Saka was brought down by France goalscorer Tchouameni.
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Harry Kane levelled the scores from the spot, with a goal that brought him to 53 for England, making him the nation's joint top scorer with Wayne Rooney.
But England's joy was short-lived, as Les Bleus struck again in the 78th minute, with Olivier Giroud rising to head in via a deflection off Harry Maguire.
Southgate responded and brought on Mason Mount and Raheem Sterling for Henderson and Saka.
England then threw everything at France to try and get an equaliser and were awarded a second penalty after Mason Mount was barged clumsily in the back on 82 minutes.
Harry Kane stepped up once again, but the England skipper, who is usually lethal from the spot for club and country, blasted it over the bar.
The Three Lions continued to push forward, bringing on Jack Grealish for the injured John Stones, but Didier Deschamps' men held firm.
There was one final opportunity for England with a Rashford freekick at the death, but he couldn't get it to drop under the bar, and France secured their place in the semi-final.
Speaking to ITV after the game, Gareth Southgate said the players gave their all and deserved more from the game:
"Goals are decisive," he said, "but I’ve just said to the players, I don’t think they could have given any more.
"I think they played really well against a top team. There are fine margins, things at both ends that have ended up deciding the game, but the way the players have progressed as a group through this tournament has been fantastic.
"In most of the big moments we were in the right place. We had more shots on goal. But it’s a game of fine margins.”
Jordan Henderson also spoke to channel and was asked if he thought the defeat represented a big chance missed.
“Probably, yeah," he said. "Unfortunately it wasn’t our night.
You have to give credit to France who are a good team, but I still felt it was there for us to win tonight.”
Addressing Harry Kane's penalty miss, he said: “We know how many penalties Harry Kane has scored for us. He scored the first one. How many goals he’s contributed for us to even get here.
He’ll be stronger for it in the long run, I’m sure. He’s a world-class striker and our captain. We wouldn’t be here without him.”
France will face Morocco, who earlier became the first African team in history to reach the semis, with a 1-0 win over Portugal.
You can read about how the game unfolded here:
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