10 December 2022, Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor. France 2–1 England.
By Hamish McTavish
A Saturday night in the tent in Al Khor, a World Cup quarter-final against the holders, and a captain who had already decided what he would do with the first penalty and then did something else with the second. Harry Kane scored the one that made him level with Wayne Rooney on fifty-three and put the second into the England end. Aurélien Tchouaméni had the first goal. Olivier Giroud had the one that won it. The Star on Sunday, in the morning, reached for the chip shop. French fried. The Sunday Express recycled 1973: End of the world. The Sunday Times inverted the hymn: we’re going home, football isn’t. The Sun on Sunday had Harry’s Pain. The Observer had Heartbreak for Harry. One miss, five fronts. The night is the second run-up.
They had come as a side that had looked, for once, like a quarter-final was a starting point and not a destination. That is the certainty they packed in Qatar: Gareth Southgate’s tournament side, the one that had already been to a European final, against a France that had Kylian Mbappé and still needed Giroud and Antoine Griezmann to do the damage. The pre-match talk was how to stop Mbappé. They mostly did. It did not matter. Southgate, afterwards, said the performance had lived up to expectation, that goals are decisive, that the players could not have given any more, and that there was nobody he would rather have in that situation, and if they had one tomorrow he would feel the same. Kane said he always prepares for one or two, that he could not fault the preparation, only the execution, and that as captain he would take it. Both men were trying to put a coat on a miss that had already left the ground.
Al Bayt at night is a white roof and a lot of people who have flown further than they will admit. England had the better of long spells. France had the two that counted and the one that went over. Southgate’s plan for Mbappé was the pre-match. Griezmann was the match. Kane was the morning. That is a quarter-final told in the wrong order, which is how they prefer it once the second kick has gone away. The holders did not need the night to be pretty. They needed the midfielder left alone, the header Maguire did not quite reach, and a captain walking up twice.
They kicked off anyway.
Seventeen minutes. Tchouaméni stepped away from Declan Rice and hit one from twenty-five yards, low to Jordan Pickford’s right, the sort of strike a holding midfielder is not supposed to be allowed. One-nil, and the holders looking like holders. England came again. There was a tangle between Kane and Dayot Upamecano that Wilton Sampaio waved away after the screen. Then, nine minutes into the second half, Tchouaméni met Bukayo Saka and the screen was not required: a penalty. Kane went high to Hugo Lloris’s left, the usual, and the record was shared with Rooney in a quarter-final. One-one. Pickford then made the save of the night, a Giroud volley turned over. Griezmann, who had been the problem all evening, hung the next one up. Giroud, thirty-six, got in front of Harry Maguire and headed it. Two-one, seventy-eight minutes.
That is the turn, and they are given a way back anyway. Theo Hernandez barged Mason Mount, who had only just come on. The screen this time said yes. Kane walked up again, same combination of power and height, and the ball went into the stand behind Lloris, who had dived the way Kane usually goes. The holders celebrated as if it were the final. It was only the eighty-fourth minute. It was enough. Southgate came onto the grass at the end to find him. The papers, by morning, had decided the captain was the whole story. He was the last kick. He was not the first goal, or the header, or the midfielder who had been left to shoot.
Tchouaméni had the strike and the foul. Giroud had the volley that was saved and the header that was not. Griezmann had the pass and the cross. Kane had fifty-three and the stand. Saka had the run that earned the first spot. Mount had the shove. Pickford had the volley and not the two. Maguire had the man he did not quite get to. Southgate had nobody I would rather have, which is a loyalty and also a tell. Lloris had the one he did not touch and the one he did not need to. Mbappé had the menace and not the goal. The Star had the fryer. The Sunday Times had the hymn, back to front. The Sunday Express had 1973 again, because some fronts never learn a new language.
They said stop Mbappé. They said nobody I would rather have. They said I always have an idea. They said French fried. If you still think it was only the second kick, a funeral is only a Tuesday. The second kick was a captain’s. The first goal was a midfielder they had come to crowd out. The header was a thirty-six-year-old they had come to ignore. They went home. Football stayed in Qatar, and then went to Argentina.
The film is up. FIFA still keep Tchouaméni, the first penalty, Giroud, the one that went away. Do not review it. Watch the record die on the second run-up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsnPlc2CBLU
Related reading
- We will win — Berlin 2024, another Sunday certainty, another late reply
- Keep Luis quiet — São Paulo 2014, the eve-of-match line that got swallowed
If the nights sit right, the shirts and the wall are at /shop.
FAQ
What was the score when France beat England at World Cup 2022?
France 2–1 England, on 10 December 2022 at Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor. Tchouaméni and Giroud scored; Kane equalised from the spot and missed a second penalty.
Why “French fried”?
The Daily Star Sunday’s morning headline after Kane’s second penalty went into the stand — chip-shop shorthand for a quarter-final exit to the holders.
Who missed the decisive penalty?
Harry Kane. His first spot-kick levelled the scoring record with Rooney; his second, late, went over.