France edge past Belgium after late deflection seals Euro 2024 progression

01-Jul-2024 18:28:43 | The Guardian

Four games into Euro 2024, no France player has found the net from open play but here they are, unbeaten and into the quarter-final, the tournament favourites progressing thanks to another strike from their top scorer: own goal.

For a moment in Düsseldorf, 66 shots and almost six hours into the competition, it seemed that the wait was finally over when Randal Kolo Muani’s shot, their 18th on an often frustrating and oddly flat evening, beat Koen Casteels. When it came though, the shot was scuffed, deflected off the defender’s knee and so ultimately awarded to poor Jan Vertonghen instead.