World Cup 2018 - Game 57 - No Cavani, no chance: France beat Uruguay 2-0

Edinson Cavani was having a hell of a World Cup. He was scoring, creating, making space for Luis Suárez, and moving without the ball (see this goal). Then he went and picked up a calf injury in the win against Portugal and was unable to play in this match. That's a huge blow for Uruguay. No disrepect to Cristhian Stuani, but he's no Cavani. France were a little wobbly against Argentina, but their class and speed won out.

France got on the board at 40'. Antoine Griezmann with a hesitation free-kick right to the head of an unmarked Raphaël Varane who heads it in the net. No Uruguay player even bothered to follow him around. He just ran in and beat Stuani to the ball. At 44', Martín Cáceres got his head onto a long free kick, but Hugo Lloris stretched as much as he could to just keep it out of the net. Griezmann shut the door at 61'. He rifled a long shot from outside the box right at Uruguay keeper, Fernando Muslera. It was coming in hot, but Muslera had the shot bounce off his hands (face high) and it went in the net. He really should have done better with that. Yes, there were still thirty plus minutes to go, but you could see the Uruguayan player's heads drop on that cheap goal. France threatened a few more times, but it ended 2-0.

Uruguay are out and France await the Brazil - Belgium winner. Either is a tough game because they also have class and speed. Uruguay never really got it going. Suarez didn't get a shot off from inside the box. France looked strong, but Kylian Mbappé didn't really do much. He didn't really have to.