France’s veteran striker Olivier Giroud had a very quiet match before he nodded home the crucial match-winner (78th minute) in the quarter-final against England at the Al Bayt Stadium on Saturday night.
The goal put Giroud’s international goal tally to 53, consolidating his position as France’s all time highest scorer (he had breached Thiery Henry’s 51-goal mark earlier in the tournament).
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“A minute before I scored, I had a chance and tried to place the ball, maybe I should have headed it in harder and could have scored earlier. But then I got this another chance and it’s an unbelievable feeling to score,” said Player-of-the -Match Giroud, 36, recalling his goal.
The tough encounter however, reminded Giroud of their 2018 World Cup semi-final against Belgium, where Samuel Umtiti (51st minute) had scored in a scrappy 1-0 win. “Tonight reminded of the match against Belgium in 2018. We fought tooth and nail. They came back into the match, started to believe, but we showed we could be dangerous on the counter-attack,” he said.
England skipper Harry Kane scored off one penalty, but missed another and Giroud admitted that was their lucky moment. “We were a bit lucky because Kane missed the penalty, but we gave our all and fought tooth and nail. It reminds me of the mentality and the same determination that we had in 2018. This group deserves to get there,” added Giroud, whose French side will face a gritty Morocco in the second semi-final on December 14.
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