Griezmann double sends France into last 8
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HOSTS France came from behind to beat 10-man Ireland 2-1 and reach the Euro 2016 quarterfinals after two second-half strikes from forward Antoine Griezmann yesterday.
A tactical switch from coach Didier Deschamps at the break revitalized the French, who struggled to find their feet early on after conceding a Robbie Brady penalty in the second minute, the fastest goal in the 2016 tournament.
“At this stage of the tournament you don’t have the right not to qualify,” Deschamps said, expressing relief at the fightback as French fans celebrated.
France will play either England or Iceland at the Stade de France next Sunday.
It was the worst possible start for the hosts when midfielder Paul Pogba clumsily barged over Ireland’s Shane Long in the penalty area, allowing Brady, who netted the Republic’s winner against Italy, to dispatch the resulting spot kick to go 1-0 up in the second minute.
It was the fastest goal at a Euro finals since Russia’s Dimitri Kirichenko scored after 67 seconds against Greece in 2004.
Celebrations erupted amongst the small band lucky enough to get one of the paltry 4,500 tickets allocated to Irish fans at the 59,000-capacity Stade de Lyon.
Finding itself behind for the first time in the tournament, France seemed to lack the urgency to wrestle control of a stop-start first half.
Its best chances fell to Griezmann who headed over the bar from close range, while a late strike by Dimitri Payet whacked into the Irish defense who desperately guarded its goal.
At the other end, Ireland didn’t really threaten apart from a bouncing shot from striker Daryl Murphy that forced ‘keeper Hugo Lloris to dive to his left.
A flat first half ended with the French players trudging off to the noise of loud booing from the packed home support.
It was “annoying” to go behind, Griezmann said. “In the dressing rooms, we had words and that brought out a different French team.”
Deschamps switched things up after the break, bringing on flying winger Kingsley Coman for holding midfielder N’Golo Kante and moving playmaker Pogba into the middle and Griezmann into a more central role behind strike partner Olivier Giroud.
The strategy paid dividends immediately as France stretched a tiring Ireland. Griezmann equalized in the 58th from a Bacary Sagna cross, and then fired his team in front three minutes later when Giroud nodded the ball down into his path.
Another surging run from Griezmann saw him chopped down on the edge of the area by Shane Duffy, earning the defender a red card as the game started to look beyond the Irish.
All was forgiven by the French crowd, who broke into a deafening recital of ‘Marseillaise’ and cheered their team all the way to their first knockout stage win in the competition since winning Euro 2000.
But France’s win came at a cost as both midfielder N’Golo Kante and defender Adil Rami are suspended for the quarterfinal after picking up bookings.
Defeat meant more heartache for the Irish in their first meeting with France since a controversial World Cup play-off in November 2009.
Thierry Henry’s infamous handball, dubbed ‘Le Hand of God’, helped seal a 2-1 aggregate win to send France to South Africa 2010 at Ireland’s expense.
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