An 85th minute deflected shot by substitute Randal Kolo Muani, listed as a Jan Vertonghen own goal, gave France a nervy but deserved 1-0 Euro 2024 last-16 win over a disappointing Belgium on Monday. France made most of the running in a cagey game but were reckless with their finishing, until a nice combination of passes, finished off by N'Golo Kante, finally created space for Kolo Muani to turn and bundle a mishit shot in off the leg of Vertonghen and leave goalkeeper Koen Casteels wrong-footed. Advertisement France will now meet the winner of Monday's match between Portugal and Slovenia in the quarter-finals in Hamburg on Friday.
It was a fittingly scruffy decider for an underwhelming game and means that France still have yet to score from open play at the tournament, recording two own goals and a Kylian Mbappe penalty across their four games so far. Advertisement Coach Didier Deschamps, unsurprisingly, saw it differently. "It’s beautiful.
It was tight but we enjoyed possession and we had more opportunities," he said. "We did a lot of good things. We have to savour it, it’s quite an achievement.
We’re in the quarter finals, they’re going home. It’s a good habit." Advertisement It was a meeting between officially the second (France) and third (Belgium) best teams in the world, but after both limped into the knockout stage via unimpressive final group-stage draws, managing only two goals apiece from their three games, they looked extremely cautious in attack.
Belgium.
