English lions mauled the Senegalese – Sport – Kommersant
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Following the results of the next day of the World Cup, the quarter-final France – England was born at the tournament. This became clear after the British, the silver medalists of the last European Championship, defeated the team of Senegal, the current champion of Africa, with a score of 3: 0.
With three favorites – the Netherlands, Argentina and France – having won in the previous three matches of the 1/8 finals, it was logical to assume that England would follow suit. So it turned out in the end, and the task of reaching the quarterfinals turned out to be relatively simple for the silver champions of the last European Championship. Taking into account that the images of the king of beasts are present on the emblems of both teams, one can even say that the English lions in this case tore to pieces the Senegalese ones.
Before the start of the meeting, it became known that one of the most stellar English football players, Chelsea striker Raheem Sterling, would not be able to take part in it. The reason for his absence from the application, according to the official version, was family circumstances. But again, as in the final match of the British in the group stage against the Wales national team, the talented Phil Foden entered the field along with Harry Kane from the first minutes, only the company was not Marcus Rashford, but Bukayo Saka.
The debut was left for the British, although their advantage by and large was imaginary, since it did not reach the critical moments at the gates of the Senegalese. But the current champions of Africa had at least two such moments. At the 23rd minute, Harry Maguire made a mistake when leaving the defense, but Boulaye Dia and Ismaila Sarr could not beat the English goalkeeper Jordan Pickford. For some time, the British continued to roll the ball, and again almost paid for it, and in this case, Pickford in the confrontation with Dia had a much harder time.
It seemed that the initiative was gradually moving to Senegal, but then a smashing English prick followed. Harry Kane found Jude Bellingham with a cross pass, and the only legionnaire of the English team playing for Borussia Dortmund sent the ball to Jordan Henderson, who actually scores infrequently, but then he opened the score without any problems. And then the Africans were confused. The spark that seemed about to start a fire at Pickford’s gate had disappeared from their game. The British, on the other hand, seemed to have thrown off the burden of psychological pressure that was pressing on their shoulders, so it turned out to be a matter of technique for them to implement a quick counterattack in two minutes compensated for the first half. It was dispersed by the same Benningham, accelerating by Phil Foden, and finishing by Harry Kane, who left no chance for Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy and scored his first goal in this tournament. After leading 2-0, head coach Harry Southgate’s wards went to the break, very pleased with themselves.
The beginning of the second half of the match resembled the first half. The English again took up the siege of Mendy, who barely repelled Kane’s not the most difficult long-range shot, but was powerless when his defenders allowed the opponents to carry out another brilliant combination. All the same attack players became its characters. In the 57th minute, the ball bounced off Kane to Foden, who broke through on the left flank and made his second assist of the evening into the center of the penalty area, and Saka was there at the right time and in the right place.
After that, the game actually lost interest. As a result – 3:0, and in the quarter-finals the British will play with the French on December 10. That is, the best scorer of the current tournament, Kylian Mbappe, who hit the opponents’ gates five times, will be the most productive team of the current tournament at the moment, which has already scored twelve goals and conceded only two.
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