Belgium vs. France score: Highlights from World Cup semifinals

Gabe Fernandez

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Belgium vs. France score: Highlights from World Cup semifinals image

Even with all of the fire power each team had to offer, only one goal separated these two powerhouse squads who were vying for a spot in the World Cup finals.

Samuel Umtiti scored the 69th World Cup set piece goal of 2018 in the 51st minute when he skied over Maroune Fellaini to head the ball past Thibaut Courtois in the near post to give France a lead they would never relinquish.

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The story of the game was Les Bleus' midfield. Matuidi got everywhere on the pitch for chances on goal, and great defensive stops. N'Golo Kante was everywhere on the pitch to disrupt Belgium's counter-attacks. Paul Pogba led the team in picture-perfect passes to open teammates. What more could a French fan ask for?

As for Belgium, the golden generation falls yet again and can fight for a third-place finish at best this tournament. Only time will tell what's next for these players.

Sporting News had you covered for the game for highlights, score updates and more. Here's what you might have missed.

Belgium vs. France live: World Cup highlights

FINAL: Belgium 0, France 1

90' + 4' —  YELLOW CARD: Vertonghen (Belgium)

90' + 3' —  France takes advantage of a bad Belgium throw-in. Griezmann gets the opportunity at goal and forces a save from Courtois!

90' + 2' —  YELLOW CARD: Kylian Mbappe

90' + 1' —  SUBSTITUTION: Chadli OFF, Batshuayi ON

90' —  Six minutes of injury time.

88' —  Dangerous bounced for France, but the ball ultimately goes out.

87' —  YELLOW CARD: N'golo Kante. Eden Hazard gets brought down outside of the box for a danerous free-kick opportunity for Belgium.

86' —  SUBSTITUTION: Matuidi OFF, Tolisso ON (France)

85' —  SUBSTITUTION: Giroud OFF, Nzonzi ON (France)

84' —  Hazard is trying to get back on. Matuidi is likely going to be subbed off.

83' —  Hazard and Matuidi are down after colliding with one another.

82' —  What a sequence! Belgium drives into a dangerous area after some one-two play with Lukaku and Hazard. The ball gets deflected onto Witsel's feet, who fires it from outside the box and it gets deflected from goal.

80' —  SUBSTITUTION: Carrasco OFF, Fellaini ON

76' —  Kevin de Bruyne gets a chance outside of the box and just launches his shot to the moon.

70' —  France go on the break after some excellent crosses from Belgium into the box. Alderweireld picks up the YELLOW CARD for fouling Matuidi.

68' —  Another counter for France comes so close, and yet so far. Griezmann and Mbappe play a beautiful one-two game on the break. Griezmann found Giroud outside the box, who skies the ball over the crossbar.

65' —  Dries Mertens crosses into the box and hits a looming Fellaini, who heads the ball wide.

63' —  YELLOW CARD: Eden Hazard (Belgium)

61' —  France disrupts Belgium's counter with a packed box that deflected the shot opportunities De Bruyne had at goal.

60' —  SUBSTITUTION: Dembele OFF, Mertens ON (Belgium)

56' —  France drives with a counter-attack and led with a couple of beautiful plays! Mbappe crossed the ball to Matuidi outside of the box, who tried to launch it to goal but the ball was deflected. Then, as play recovered, Mbappe got the ball back and hit a backheel pass to Giroud, whose shot was deflected out of bounds by Courtois.

54' —  Matuidi tripped up outside of the box for a free kick opportunity to France.

51' — GOAL FRANCE (1-0)!  Another goal from a set piece! Umtiti beats his man in the box and heads in the first goal of the match to give France the lead.

50' —  France with their first opportunity for the half! The ball was played up to Giroud in the middle of the box, but Belgium's Vincent Kompany deflects the ball wide for a corner kick.

47' —  Belgium with the first opportunity! Lukaku almost has a free header in the box but Raphael Varane is there to clear the ball over the net.

46' —  And we're back!

HALFTIME: Belgium 0, France 0

45' + 1' —  Lukaku unable to take advantage of the mistake! Umtiti mistimes his clearance attempt and the ball bounces right off of Lukaku to go out of bounds for a goal kick.

45' —  One minute of injury time.

44' —  Griezmann fires it into the wall and then passes a bit too strongly to his teammate for a Belgian goal kick.

43' —  Pogba gets dragged down outside of the box by Dembele for a great opportunity to score from the free kick.

40' —  So close for France! Pavard gets a great opportunity at goal and fires it to the far post, but an outstretched leg from Courtois keeps the game scoreless. Absolute scenes!

39' —  Giroud is back on the field, walking gingerly.

38' —  Giroud is off the field for treatment. France will play with 10 men.

37' —  A French counter-attack becomes all for naught. Griezmann drives down the field and tries to launch a shot from outside the box with only two defenders in front of him. He pulls it wide. Giroud is down with an apparent injury.

33' —  France starting to pressure Belgium. Play eventually gives the ball to the feet of Griezmann, who launches it way over the net from outside of the box.

31' —  The French free kick finds the target man in Olivier Giroud, but the shot is headed just wide of Belgium's net.

30' —  Vertonghen gets a strong warning from the ref after fouling Mbappe about 40 yards out.

28' — De Bruyne threatens France with a searching low cross to give a teammate a chance at a tap-in, but the French defense is there to clear things away.

22' —  LLORIS KEEPS IT SCORELESS! A Belgian corner leads to a great opportunity for Alderweireld who fires a shot from outside the box. Courtois stretches out as far as he could to knock it away.

19' —  Belgium takes it down the other end and almost scores! Hazard takes a inaccurate cross on the left side, cuts into the box and fires on goal. Fortunately for France, Umtiti got in front of the ball and hit it over the net. The ensuing corner led to nothing.

18' —  Matuidi gets a great shot on goal from outside of the box, but the ball lands right into the chest of Courtois, who knocks it down.

16' —  So close for Belgium! De Bruyne flicks it to Eden Hazard in the box and shoots it JUST wide of the net.

15' —  Belgium appears to have put Vertonghen in charge of marking Mbappe which seems like a less-than-ideal move.

13' —  Paul Pogba with a beautiful pass down the middle to a streaking Mbappe who almost reaches it before Courtois comes off his line to scoop it up.

5' —  Hazard takes the ball to left-side end-line and slice the ball into the box that forces a dangerous clearance from Umtiti and a Belgium corner.

2' —  Mbappe forces Belgium to defend early. He streaked down the right side of the pitch and crossed a ball to Griezmann in the box where it was cleared out.

1' —  And we're off!

Starting Lineups:

Belgium XI : Courtois, Alderweireld, Kompany, Vertonghen, Chadli, Fellaini, Dembélé, Witsel, De Bruyne, Hazard, Lukaku.

France XI : Lloris, Pavard, Varane, Umtiti, Hernandez, Pogba, Kanté, Mbappé, Griezmann, Matuidi, Giroud.

Prediction (via AccuScore )

France is the more organized and tactically sound of the two teams, but Belgium might just have that X-factor to push through if only by less than 51-percent probability.

ACCUSCORE PICK:  Belgium.

Gabe Fernandez