World Cup 2022: England tragically fails against France

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Preferably becoming invisible: Harry Kane after his missed penalty

Photo: PAUL ELLIS / AFP

England, your penalties:

Four strides, a powerful shot and a ball soaring into the Qatari night sky.

Harry Kane had a great chance from the penalty spot just before the end to level the game against France.

Previously, he had already confidently converted a penalty kick.

Seamlessly into the left corner.

Then he gave away the second.

And the whole football world is laughing at England and its captain again.

Another penalty stands in the way of the English, it's easy to poke fun at the Brits and Kane.

Like the English tabloid The Sun, which Kane renamed Harry Pain.

The English had the world champion on the brink of defeat, were disadvantaged by the referee in some actions – and then just had bad luck.

It's tragic.

Result:

France defeated England 2-1 (1-0) and thus entered the World Cup semi-finals.

Here is the match report.

Safe from the point:

Harry Kane's commanding penalty goal in the 54th minute made him the all-time leading goalscorer in the history of the English national team.

The Tottenham striker has now scored 53 goals, as many as Wayne Rooney.

Almost even more astounding: With four penalties, Kane is now the World Cup record holder.

After he was denied the fifth, this record will interest him very little.

Breathless:

Again, a few seats remained empty at Al-Bait Stadium, despite the game being reported as a sell-out.

If someone really owned a card and missed out on this hit, you have to say: It's your own fault.

With England and France, two teams met at eye level.

It was the first really open quarter-final game of this World Cup, after one team had often got stuck at the back.

Aurélien Tchouaméni gave the French an early lead (18'), then England took over.

Bukayo Saka dribbled irresistibly, Kane distributed the balls and finished himself.

On the other side, Kylian Mbappé lurked on the center line, ready to turbo-charge at any moment.

England, your goalkeepers:

For decades, English football fans would hold their breath when a ball flew towards the goal.

David Seaman, who let a Ronaldinho free-kick slip through at the 2022 World Cup, was just as unable to stabilize the defense as his successor David James, nicknamed "Calamity James".

Things went well for a long time with Joe Hart before he failed twice against Iceland in the 2016 European Championship round of 16.

In the meantime, the English have a man with a lot of quality between the posts in Jordan Pickford.

Pickford kept the Three Lions in the game against Senegal.

When Tchouaméni conceded against France, Pickford reacted too late and was therefore unable to get the ball. A small mistake that every player on the field makes repeatedly.

A mistake that is decisive for a keeper.

Not up to par:

Referee Wilton Sampaio got the English annoyed on several occasions.

Roughly before the opening goal: Dayot Upamecano stole the ball from Saka with a maneuver that no longer fell under English hardness.

A few seconds later the gate fell.

Sampaio was also unlucky afterwards when Upamecano brought down Kane just before the edge of the penalty area, but the whistle remained silent even after the VAR checked.

just a human?

Even if England missed the semi-finals, they showed one thing: it is possible to at least narrow Kylian Mbappé's circles at this World Cup.

Kyle Walker followed him every step of the way and even refrained from his dreaded offensive excursions.

Walker rarely had to play alone against the superstar, he usually received support from defensive midfield.

It is clear that the lightning-fast attacker still had his actions.

But Mbappé has definitely shown more dominant games.

However, he was involved in the first goal: he dribbled into the middle, caught the attention of three opponents – and nobody paid any attention to Tchouaméni.

Then Giroud:

Because Mbappé didn't finish as usual, others helped out.

Like Olivier Giroud in the second half, who first missed a big chance and shortly afterwards headed France to victory (78th).

The goal in the second half came at a bad time for England.

Jude Bellingham and Harry Maguire's header nearly scored for England, who were closer to scoring the second goal than France.

Kane's equalizer to make it 1-1 was overdue.

And the Equipe Tricolore shouldn't have complained about the 2:2 either.

England were eliminated in the quarter-finals once again after storming into the semi-finals at World Cup 2018 and the final at Euro 2021.

The young Englishmen, they are nevertheless a mature tournament team.

Danger of stumbling:

Morocco is now waiting for France, and not so far away the World Cup final, with Argentina as a possible opponent.

But the hurdle in the semifinals should not be underestimated.

Morocco will not give the French a meter of space to counter - and with Achraf Hakimi, they will have a lightning-fast Mbappé guard.