Footballing order was restored as France put five past an Iceland side who exited the tournament with their heads held high – and two more goals under their belt.
France 5 Iceland 2
A fluent and clinical display from the Euro 2016 hosts ended Iceland’s fairytale, with Antoine Griezmann (10.0) the stand-out performer.
The Atletico Madrid striker, owned by 44% of official Uefa game managers, scored one and set up two more as France ran riot in the first half and he ended the match with a match-high five chances created and two attempts.
Griezmann set up Paul Pogba (8.5), from a corner, and Dmitri Payet (8.1) before smartly chipping home when set free by an Olivier Giroud (8.5) flick. The Arsenal man also grabbed two goals, assisted by Blaise Matuidi (7.0) and Payet.
Iceland couldn’t cope with France’s attacking verve, but were far from outclassed when pushing forward themselves.
Allowed a tournament-high 38.6% possession, they created 11 chances to France’s 14 and had 11 attempts to the hosts’ 15.
Two of those attempts led to goals, Kolbeinn Sigthorsson finishing from a fine Gylfi Sigurdsson ball and Birkir Bjarnason heading home an Ari Freyr Skulason cross.
Although Iceland scored in every match at Euro 2016, French coach Didier Deschamps will be concerned that his team defended so poorly, the suspensions for N’Golo Kante (5.5) and Adil Rami (5.1) only partially explaining that laxity.
Les Bleus were superb going forward after Deschamps decided to retain the 4-2-3-1 formation he employed in the second-half of the 2-1 win over Republic of Ireland last time around. Kante’s absence allowed Pogba to take up a more withdrawn role in the double-pivot, while Griezmann again flourished thanks to his central support berth behind Giroud.
Deschamps has not been frightened to make some big calls in this tournament, and he has a couple more to make before it’s over.
Should Kante return for the semi-final against Germany, the France manager has a real dilemma in the centre of the park and with Pogba back in form, it may be Blaise Matuidi is the man to drop out. On the right, Sissoko is surely set to return to the bench for Thursday’s match but Les Bleus boss will be reluctant to shift Griezmann back onto the flank after his recent output through the centre.
The one consolation for Deschamps is that his German counterpart, Joachim Low, has even more issues, with Mats Hummels suspended and Mario Gomez injured, whilst both Sami Khedira and Bastian Schweinsteiger are doubtful in the centre of the park.
