France's victorious players will return to a heroes' welcome on Monday after winning the World Cup for the second time with a rollercoaster 4-2 victory that set off wild revelling at home.
France is through to its first World Cup final since 2006, and the French fans are thrilled. Thursday will mark the 20th anniversary of France's only World Cup victory, when it defeated Brazil 3-0, and come Sunday it will try to do the same against the winner of England and Croatia on Wednesday.
England fans in Russia said they were daring to dream of glory on Saturday after the national side cruised past Sweden 2-0 and into a World Cup semi-final for the first time in 28 years.
In a pulsating, wildly entertaining game, Belgium eliminated Brazil from the World Cup with a 2-1 quarterfinal victory, while France took out an Edinson Cavani-less Uruguay 2-0 earlier on Friday to punch its ticket to the semifinals.
England finally overcame nearly 30 years of penalty pain when they beat Colombia 4-3 in a shootout on Tuesday after drawing their World Cup last-16 clash 1-1 following extra time after the South Americans had equalized in the 93rd minute.
Russia bids a sad farewell to both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, who crashed out of the World Cup at the last 16 stage on the same day.
England’s first defeat at the World Cup was met with divided opinion in the British media, with some satisfied by it achieving potentially easier route deeper into the tournament while others rued the loss of momentum.
A message on the association's Twitter account has admitted that the defending champions deserved to be eliminated from Russia 2018 at the group stage
