SF - France 2-0 Germany: Griezmann's grand night out

By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88

The dream of repeating home successes at major finals continued for France on Thursday night as they overcame Germany 2-0 in the second EURO 2016 semi-final.

Another double in Marseille all but gave Griezmann the Golden Boot

Once again it was Antoine Griezmann (pictured) who made the difference. The Atletico Madrid forward had a grand night in Marseille, scoring both the goals. It takes France back to the Stade de France for the final on Sunday night against Portugal.

The host nation now has the opportunity to repeat the home triumphs they managed at EURO 84 and the World Cup finals of 1998.

Lady luck with the French

Both teams arrived into the cauldron of the Stade Velodrome with plenty of passion and that was clearly evident with the singing of both national anthems.

This was the first meeting of the two countries since that terrible night last November when terrorists struck at the heart of the French capital, with the Stade de France among those locations to be targeted.

The scoreline that night also finished 2-0 to the French. Luckily, that was the only repeat element of these two games. Les Bleus did have a bit of lady luck though to be ahead at the interval.

After German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer saved well from Griezmann in the opening five minutes, it was the world champions who completely bossed the first half in terms of territory.

They had a staggering 65% of possession and made their opponents chase the ball around constantly. The only problem for Germany was a lack of cutting edge with Mario Gomez missing through injury.

Then, the course of the game completely changed on the stroke of the half-time whistle. Captain Bastian Schweinsteiger was adjudged to have handled in the penalty area when jumping with Patrice Evra in the air from a corner.

It wasn’t as clear-cut as Jerome Boateng’s handball in the quarter-final but it was still adjudged to be deliberate foul play by the Italian referee Nicola Rizzoli.

Schweinsteiger was booked and looked bemused. Replays show that it looked a soft penalty at best. Griezmann made no mistakes with the spot-kick, coolly tucking the ball past Neuer to give France the initiative.

A lack of German forwards

Germany threw everything at France to get back into the game in the second half but the expressions on the touchline from manager Joachim Low suggested this wasn’t going to be their night. Mario Götze and Schalke 04 wunderkind Leroy Sane were thrown on but it was to no avail.

Without Gomez, Germany simply didn’t have another out-and-out forward or target man in the squad. Thomas Müller can play as a lone forward but he looked like a man who still has never scored in his European Championship career. It is a painful statistic that now stretches to 11 matches.

Options are thin on the ground too in terms of players who didn’t make the final 23. Max Kruse’s disciplinary problems at VfL Wolfsburg have been well-documented whilst Kevin Volland is gifted but not the natural goalscorer the national team is hoping for.

If you look at this table, you can see why Germany has a real problem going forwards. This is a list of the main attackers at the top nine clubs in the Bundesliga for 2016/2017;

Club	Forwards and nationalities in country code
FC Bayern München	Robert Lewandowski (POL), Thomas Müller (DEU), Kingsley Coman (FRA)
Borussia Dortmund	Marco Reus (DEU), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (GAB), Adrian Ramos (COL), Ousmane Dembele (FRA), Emre Mor (TUR)
Bayer 04 Leverkusen	Kevin Volland (DEU), Stefan Kieẞling (DEU), Admir Mehmedi (CHE), Javier Hernandez (MEX)
Borussia Mönchengladbach	Raffael (BRA), André Hahn (DEU)
FC Schalke 04	Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (NLD), Breel Embolo (CHE), Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (CMR), Franco di Santo (ARG)
1. FSV Mainz 05	Yoshinori Muto (JAP), Jhon Cordoba (COL), Jairo Samperio (ESP), Pablo de Blasis (ARG)
Hertha BSC	Salomon Kalou (CIV), Vedad Ibisevic (BIH)
VfL Wolfsburg	Bas Dost (NLD), Bruno Henrique (BRA), Max Kruse (DEU)
1. FC Köln	Anthony Modeste (FRA), Yuya Osako (JAP), Simon Zoller (DEU), Artjoms Rudnevs (LAT)

Only six forwards in the top nine clubs says it all. Marco Reus was injured, Simon Zoller is nowhere near international standard and André Hahn plays better as a wide player rather than a natural no.9 forward. Options are thin on the ground and it is probably the next element that should be put in place within the well-run German football system.

Griezmann wrapped up France’s final place with a second goal after a rare error from Neuer. Joshua Kimmich ultimately had the best chances for Germany and he’s a defender. It summed up the contest as a whole. Two evenly-matched sides but France have proven forwards and Germany don’t. That’s why the best side won and get the chance to lift the Henri Delaunay trophy again on home soil at the weekend.

My best three players of the match

Man of the Match: Antoine Griezmann (France)

In all fairness, if Griezmann is not voted the Player of the Tournament, then something is strangely wrong with the voting system. He has been the shining light in the knockout games and has now scored six goals in these finals; five of these since the group stages ended. He was the man-of-the-match again by some distance.

2^nd: Blaise Matuidi (France)

One of the unsung heroes of the competition has been the dynamic PSG midfielder. Matuidi was excellent, breaking up play throughout the 90 minutes and ensuring the likes of Julian Draxler and Mesut Özil simply couldn’t have a significant impact. He is another vital cog in Deschamps’ team.

3^rd: Joshua Kimmich (Germany)

He was slightly timid in possession when it came to the second French goal, although it was more down to Neuer who gifted Griezmann his second. Kimmich hit the crossbar and forced Hugo Lloris into a stunning save in stoppage time. He has had an impressive individual tournament and has come so far in such a short space of time.