As Eden Hazard, Thibaut Courtois, and Michy Batshuayi were left to stew in their own frustrations and disappointments, their victorious opponents were enjoying a fair bit of celebrations. It was almost a little too much from Les Bleus, considering that it was just the semifinal. They haven’t won anything yet!
N’Golo Kanté must’ve surveyed this scene as well before giving his post-match interview, which made it pretty clear what the Chelsea midfielder’s intentions are. The time to be happy isn’t now. It’s on Sunday.
“I hope that we will all be happy after the final match. This is what we wanted, we prepared the match to go into the final. Only after the final we can be happy.”
-N’Golo Kanté; source: beIN via GFFN
But perhaps there is nothing wrong with enjoying the moment, maybe just for a few hours, before turning attentions to the final against either England or Croatia. Especially if reach the World Cup final constitutes a childhood dream, right, Olivier?
“I can’t believe it. It was my childhood dream. It is the culmination of an entire career’s work. For me, I should have scored, but I am so happy for Sam. I hope it will be my [turn] in the final. We are on a little cloud, we hope to stay there, but we will get back to work tomorrow. The French [people] can count on us, we will do our absolute best to finish the job.”
-Olivier Giroud; source: beIN via GFFN
One can only imagine how excited Giroud must feel to reach the final at age 31, and playing a key role for the team (which includes defending deep when needed) despite his lack of goals.
Kanté, who’s been key as well, to say the least, probably feels excited, too. But only for a brief moment. You have to look very closely to catch it. Then it’s back to business.
— Equipe de France (@equipedefrance) July 11, 2018