France advanced into the quarter finals
France secured its place among the eight best teams at the Football World Cup. “Les Bleus” knocked out Nigeria and made it into the quarter finals for the first time in eight years.
Despite being a favorite on paper, France had a tough match against the Africans. By halftime, the teams were still tied, but France had the better possession, more shots on target and more corners. It took them almost 80 minutes to score. Pogba hit first after Enyeama's mistake. Nigeria's dream ended up with Yobo's own goal into stopagge time and France made it through.
The win made Les Belus go crazy and Dechamps' players stayed a few minutes on pitch celebrating the win. “I have no words to describe this feeling. The whole country is behind us and scoring that goal really liberated us. I am so happy for the team and for all France. To score a goal for your country, especially in such an important game as this, must be the best moment of my life,” said Paul Pogba after the game.
France manager Didier Deschamps wanted his team to score more. “We had a very strong last half an hour with more dynamism and more speed. We had space to create chances and we could have scored quite a few times,” said Deschamps.
France made it to the quarter finals where Les Belus will face Germany. The French media is already the relatively young team France has after the 2010 disaster when the team failed to qualify out of the group stage.