ST. PETERSBURG: Les Bleus beat Uruguay 2-0 in their quarterfinal to set up the last-four clash against neighbors Belgium, who beat Brazil 2-1 in their quarterfinal.
They go in as slight favorites but with so many of the players familiar to each other there is very little the two sides do not know about each other.
For Giroud that means one thing: It is going to be a tense battle, which will seem like a derby match.
“We don’t want to have them taking the mickey out of us. There is a big rivalry between France and Belgium, it’s like a derby match,” the France striker said.
And the presence of French World Cup winner Thierry Henry on the Belgian coaching staff as one of Roberto Martinez’s assistants adds extra spice to the occasion.
“It will be bizarre to have him up against us,” Giroud said.
“He is a living legend of French football. He has given so much to the France team and we have got a lot of respect for what he has done. But we’re not thinking about it too much, we’re going to be focused on the pitch and our game.”
“Of course I would prefer it if he were with us and he were giving me his advice, but we mustn’t be jealous.”
The slick Belgium side, which boasts the talents of Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku, are the only team to have won all their matches in Russia and are the top scorers, with 14 goals.
Confidence is sky-high after they beat Brazil in the quarterfinals but they will come up against formidable opponents in France as they try to reach their first World Cup final.
“The players have been working together extraordinarily well for many years, and they deserve to be exactly where they are today,” Martinez said.
“I feel that the most important aspect we worked on was the notion of being a team. Individual skills and talent are important, but in these tournaments, it’s absolutely necessary to play as a team.
“It’s a trip into the unknown. We’ve never been in such a situation, and that’s why we need our team spirit more than ever against France. We need to be the best version of ourselves.”
Kylian Mbappe was lethal in France’s 4-3 second-round win over Argentina, using his pace to devastating effect, but Martinez said his side would not make the mistake of focusing solely on one player.
“Both (teams) have the right mix of youth and experience and also lots of individual talent,” he said.
“We will need to anticipate (Mbappe) and be well-positioned. We need to defend spaces more than the player himself. We are not going to forget the others since France have a complete attacking pattern.
“These players need to play without fear to keep all options open. Like a voyage to the moon: We need to face it full of illusions.”
Olivier Giroud tells France teammates to prepare for World Cup ‘derby match’ against Belgium
Olivier Giroud tells France teammates to prepare for World Cup ‘derby match’ against Belgium
Pakistan-born Australian Khawaja, set to retire from cricket, criticizes racial stereotypes
- Usman Khawaja said he felt he was treated ‘a little bit different, even to now,’ because of his Pakistan and Muslim background
- Khawaja was criticized in the days leading up to the Perth match for golfing twice, not taking part in an optional training session
Veteran Australia batter Usman Khawaja has announced he will retire from international cricket after the fifth Ashes test beginning Sunday at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
He didn’t go quietly.
The Pakistan-born Khawaja, who was the first Muslim to play for Australia, used his retirement announcement Friday to criticize the “racial” stereotyping he experienced during his career.
It will be the 39-year-old Khawaja’s 88th and final test — played at the ground where he began his first-class career. Khawaja scored his first Ashes century at the SCG with 171 against England in 2018.
It was also at that the SCG where he revived his career at age 35, scoring two centuries against England. That prompted one of the great late-career revivals, as Khawaja hit seven centuries in his next two years back in the side.
But Khawaja’s position had come under scrutiny and criticism this season after being unable to open in the first Ashes test in Perth due to back spasms and then missing the Brisbane test with the injury.
He was then initially left out in Adelaide until Steve Smith’s vertigo allowed Khawaja to return, before an 82 in the first innings there ensured he would stay in the side for the fourth test in Melbourne. Australia, with a 3-1 lead going into the fifth test, has retained the Ashes.
Khawaja said he felt he was treated “a little bit different, even to now,” because of his Pakistan and Muslim background.
“Different in the way I’ve been treated, different in how things have happened,” he said at a media conference in Sydney. “I had back spasms, it was something I couldn’t control. The way the media and the past players came out and attacked me . . . I copped it for about five days straight. Everyone was piling in.
“Once the racial stereotypes came in, of me being lazy, it was things I’ve dealt with my whole life. Pakistani, West Indian, colored players...we’re selfish, we only care about ourselves, we don’t care about the team, we don’t train hard enough.”
Khawaja was criticized in the days leading up to the Perth match for golfing twice and not taking part in an optional training session. Some commentators suggested the golf might have been responsible for his back issues.
“I can give you countless number of guys who have played golf the day before a match and have been injured, but you guys haven’t said a thing,” Khawaja told the assembled media.
“I can give you even more examples of guys who have had 15 schooners (large glasses of beer) the night before a game and have then been injured, but no one said a word because they were just being ‘Aussie larrikins,’ they were just being lads. But when I get injured, everyone went at my credibility and who I am as a person.”
Khawaja said he knew the end of his career was imminent.
“I guess moving into this series, I had an inkling this would be the last series,” he said. “I’m glad I can go out on my own terms.”
Khawaja has scored 6,206 runs at an average of 43.49 in his 87 tests with 16 centuries and 28 half-centuries.
“Usman has made a huge contribution to Australian cricket both through his outstanding achievements as one of our most stylish and resilient batters . . . and off field, particularly through the Usman Khawaja Foundation,” Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg said in a statement.
“Usman has been one of Australia’s most reliable opening batters and testament to his success was him being named ICC test cricketer of the year the same season that Australia won the World Test Championship (in 2023).”
Khawaja said his No. 1 emotion on announcing his retirement was “contentment.”
“I’m very lucky to have played so many games for Australia the way I have,” Khawaja said. “I hope I have inspired people along the way.”
