England came out all guns blazing but an early strike from Aurelien Tchouameni gave France a 1-0 lead at the end of first half of their quarterfinal match of the ongoing FIFA World Cup against England at Al Khor on Sunday.
France enjoyed a solid amount of ball possession in the start. In the 7th minute, star striker Kylian Mbappe created a chance for France, curling a cross into the England penalty area and Olivier Giroud attempted a scorpion kick which failed to connect.
In the 11th minute, France got another chance to score, as Giroud attempted a header, but no damage was done to England.
France took the lead in the 17th minute as Mbappe passed the ball to Antoine Griezmann, but the latter pulled it back to Aurelien Tchouameni. who fired the ball into the bottom left corner of the goal from almost 30 yards, leaving Jordan Pickford, the English goalie stunned.
Following this, Luke Shaw and Harry Kane attempted to score for England, but were denied by goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. Lloris made a great save to deny Kane a close-range goal, but England were clearly looking to bounce back.
In the 25th minute, England's Kane fell on the edge of France box, but a VAR checked ruled out the possibility of penalty as the contact was made outside the box.
Kane took another attempt at goal, but was denied once again. England started to dominate the game in terms of shots on target and ball possession, but an equaliser was needed.
In the 42nd minute, a yellow card was issued to Griezmann for tripping Kyle Walker.
Four minutes of additional stoppage time was added. At the end of first half, the scoreline read 1-0 in favour of France.
( With inputs from ANI )
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