Football: Soccer-France progress but goal woes are major concern

DUESSELDORF, Germany (Reuters) – France got the better of Belgium once again, grabbing a late winner in a cagey contest on Monday to take a quarter-final place at the European Championship.

But it was a victory without much conviction.

Randal Kolo Muani’s deflected effort keeps the pre-tournament favourites on course, but a major improvement is needed in front of goal if they are to clear the next hurdle.

Kylian Mbappe showed several bursts of pace and turns of foot to remind the Belgians of their two previous losses to their neighbour, in the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup and the 2021 Nations League.

In one dazzling move on Monday he danced past Yannick Carrasco with such ease that the Belgian was left with a resigned look of bemusement on his face.

But Mbappe’s wizardry was all too infrequent and more alarmingly for France, he fluffed a handful of chances in front of goal that he would ordinarily have buried without much effort.

It could be he is still struggling with the mask he was wearing to protect his broken nose. Mbappe has made it clear he hates it but has to wear it as a necessary protection.

The impact of the injury on his confidence remains evident, even if this was a second game after his comeback against Poland last week.

Mbappe is not the only concern. Antoine Greizmann was brought back to play behind the two strikers but could not find the range on his attempts at incisive passes and is also lacking sharpness.

These are key players for France and once their post-match celebrations are over, there will much concern among the coaches as they plan ahead for the last eight at the weekend.

Initially, the majority of French efforts on the Belgian goal were long-range strikes from Aurelien Tchouameni, only one of which forced a save out of the goalkeeper.

AMBITIOUS

But ultimately France proved the more ambitious of the two teams and finally forced the breakthrough with five minutes left to play.

UEFA decided to award the winner as an own goal against Jan Vertonghen, in a rather ignominious end to the 37-year-old’s international career, which started in 2007.

That decision also means France still have not managed to score in open play in their four matches so far at Euro 2024, plus their last warm-up friendly against Canada in the build-up to the tournament.

Les Bleus’ tally over the five games is three goals – two own goals and a penalty converted by Mbappe. Not the sort of statistics that inspire confidence.

(Writing by Mark Gleeson; Editing by Hugh Lawson)