Today at the World Cup: England head home as final four prepare for semi-finals

England will prepare to fly home from Qatar on Sunday after their World Cup dream was ended by France.

Harry Kane netted one penalty but blazed a late second over the crossbar as Gareth Southgate’s side lost 2-1 to the holders in the quarter-finals.

Here, Football Mad reviews Saturday’s action and looks ahead to the final week of the tournament.

More years of hurt

Kane’s first spot-kick saw him go level with Wayne Rooney as England’s record goalscorer on 53 goals.

With the score at 1-1, it was England in the ascendancy and Harry Maguire headed against the post only for Olivier Giroud to put France back in front.

Mason Mount earned England a second spot-kick but this time Kane smashed his effort over and with it went England’s chances of ending their long wait for a major trophy.

Boss Southgate was non-committal about his future but has a contract that runs until after Euro 2024.

Head up Harry

Rooney led the flurry of people rallying around Kane after his penalty miss and backed the captain to bounce back.

“Congratulations to Harry Kane on equalling the record, he’ll be on his own soon and couldn’t think of anyone better to take over. Keep your head up Harry,” Rooney said on Twitter.

Kane’s club Tottenham added: “Head up Harry, we’re so proud of you”, while England team-mate Jordan Henderson told ITV: “He will be stronger for it in the long run, I’m sure. He’s a world-class striker, our captain, and we wouldn’t be here without him.”

Kane’s next assignment will be a Premier League trip to Brentford with Spurs on Boxing Day.

France the favourites?

The 2018 World Cup winners have not always been fluent in Qatar but remain on course to retain their title and follow in the footsteps of Italy and Brazil.

Star man Kylian Mbappe was largely nullified by England and it was Olivier Giroud – their record goalscorer – who produced the decisive blow for France after Aurelien Tchouameni’s stunning strike.

France will face surprise package Morocco in the semi-finals, while Argentina take on Croatia – finalists with France four years ago.

Despite injuries to Karim Benzema, Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante, France remain the team to beat.

History-makers!

Morocco beat Portugal 1-0 to become the first African nation to reach the World Cup semi-finals.

After shocking Belgium and Spain already in Qatar, they dumped out another European heavyweight.

Yassine Bounou kept another clean sheet and Youssef En-Nesyri was the hero at the other end of the pitch, heading home three minutes before half-time.

Substitute Walid Cheddira received two yellow cards late on to rule him out of Wednesday’s semi-final but it failed to stop Walid Regragui’s side hanging on.

Tearful goodbye for Ron?

Cristiano Ronaldo’s record-equalling outing in men’s football ended in tears after Portugal bowed out of the World Cup at the hands of upset kings Morocco.

Ronaldo, benched again, was summoned six minutes into the second half and in the process drew level with Kuwait’s Bader Al-Mutawa on 196 international appearances.

Given the drama following the five-time Ballon d’Or winner around in Qatar, it felt inevitable he would be in the headlines and his big moment came when he was played through on goal with only Bounou to beat in the first minute of stoppage time, but the Moroccan goalkeeper denied him.

At full-time Ronaldo was in tears and, given his age, it could be his last major tournament. He failed to score in all eight of his World Cup knockout ties.

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