
France goalkeeper, Hugo Lloris, has said that he texted Harry Kane after the England striker missed the penalty that could have kept his team in the World Cup. While Lloris said that, “it was not easy to find the words,” he said that his Tottenham teammate, “could be proud of what he had done for the national team”.
Kane looked heartbroken after his penalty kick went sailing over the bar just six minutes from time. If he had scored, it would have levelled the game and it would have landed Kane the England all-time goalscoring record.
Instead, the ball went skyward and England once again crashed out of a major tournament despite many bookmakers giving the team short World Cup odds to win the competition.
The French goalkeeper said that Kane appeared to need time to rest in their text conversation after the quarter-final. Lloris stated that, “It’s a difficult time for the England national team and Harry,” but that “many top players have missed penalties in their career.” and went on to reference the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Thankfully, Lloris went on to state that, “I have no doubt that Harry will keep his chin up and help Tottenham and the national team shine.” Lloris and Kane are teammates at Tottenham Hotspur and they next play Brentford in a London derby on Boxing Day.
France’s triumph over England sees them progressing through to the World Cup semi-finals against Morocco. While most football bookmakers would have France down as one of the firm favourites to win the Qatar World Cup, Morocco represent the biggest surprise of the tournament.
The Moroccan team have produced a series of stunning performances to beat top-level teams like Belgium, Spain and most recently, Portugal. It marks the first time that an African team has made it to the World Cup semi-finals and there is an incredible buzz about the Atlas Lions.
As such, France will go into the game having to work hard in a very hostile environment. Thankfully, France have looked like one of the best teams in the tournament so far. Kylian Mbappe has once again shown his frightening pace and is already the World Cup’ top scorer. Plus Antoine Greizmann has shown a calmness and stability to control the game and neutralise their opponents.
Above all, France seem to have a unity that was missing in their recent Euros campaign. While there were concerns that the French team would miss injured stars like Karim Benzema and Paul Pogba, if anything the absences seem to have unified the squad.
France’s biggest test came against England, and Didier Deschamps’ team were admittedly on the back foot for much of the second half. However, France showed that they have the guts required to win any game, even if it isn’t pretty. As such, there’ll be plenty of people picking up the latest betting promotions to back France to go all the way.
Users must be 18+. If you are having trouble with gambling then help and advice can be found at begambleaware.org. Please Play Responsibly.
Trading financial products carries a high risk to your capital, especially trading leverage products such as CFDs. CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Between 74-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.