World Cup 2018, Uruguay 0-2 France: 3 key takeaways from the game
France became the first team to book their place in the semi-final of the World Cup 2018 as they cruised to a comfortable 2-0 win over dark horses Uruguay.
A lot was expected of the South Americans, but it was mostly a stroll in the park for the French, and at no point in the contest did Uruguay look like they wanted to win.
Rafael Varane's header off a set-piece in the first half set up the win, and then a costly error from a Griezmann shot that curled slightly at the last minute put an end to Uruguay's progress in the tournament.
Any signs of a comeback were thwarted by a nervy Uruguay side, and things ended as dully as they began for them.
France will now take on the winner of the Belgium-Brazil match, and much confident of their chances of making history. Here's a look at three key takeaways from the game:
#1 The importance of Cavani
To say Uruguay were poor tonight would be a massive understatement. Without a tall target man upfront, they failed to have a semblance of a chance of scoring and were dreadful for almost the entire game.
It was the Cavani-Suarez partnership that had sustained Uruguay so far in the WC, and without Cavani, Suarez cut a lone man in the opposition box.
Stuani did not have the same chemistry with the Barcelona striker, and Caceres' crosses into the box did not find Suarez as good as they should have.
Uruguay also did not change their tactics to match with Cavani's absence, and their long balls from the back simply soared past the French defenders and/or into Lloris' waiting hand.
It was expected that Cavani's absence would make a difference, but whether anyone expected this big of a difference is unlikely.
It was painful seeing Cavani watch from the bench - knowing that he has to do something, but utterly incapable of doing anything. Football, bloody hell, eh?