Analysis:France leave England wondering what might have been

AL KHOR, Qatar : The French cockerel crowed long and hard into the night on Saturday after France beat age-old rivals England 2-1 to reach the World Cup semi-finals and send their neighbours home.

On a patch of verdant grass incongruously sat in the middle of a parched Qatari desert, the reigning champions repelled England's assaults and broke English hearts.

In a closely fought match of millimetres it was ironic that the result was ultimately determined by a wild and woefully mis-hit penalty, blasted into the stand by England’s usually reliable goal machine Harry Kane.

Having earlier smashed an unstoppable spot kick past Hugo Lloris, barely a soul in the cavernous Al Bayt Stadium would have expected the striker to miss his chance to level the match at 2-2 and become England’s record goalscorer.

Such is sport, though, and instead of leading the fightback, the man the English media call 'King Harry' left the pitch disconsolate.

“It’s a game of fine margins,” said England coach Gareth Southgate, who missed the decisive penalty in a shootout against Germany in the semi-finals at Euro 96.

"For me, we win and lose as a team and we've let a couple of goals in and missed a few chances. Harry has been incredible for us, so reliable in those sorts of situations. We wouldn't be here, but for the number of goals he scored for us.”

Such drama was perhaps predictable in this first-ever World Cup knockout clash between two nations with such a long history of rivalry.

HIGH DRAMA

Before the kick-off, the scene for high drama was set. Smoke had hung in the air following a display of pre-match fireworks.

If this sporting clash was, as English essayist, novelist and journalist George Orwell said, “war minus the shooting” both sets of players were