well a very good evening to you on what is pretty close to an ideal evening for football there is
a barely a cloud evident the world and his wife have gone to great lengths to be here for
a match of great consequence and massive interest in these parts barely a breath of wind
so the football has no excuses for not being at its very best the teams i know
are pumped for this they are fantastic scenes in the stands
there is a great sense of drama here a great sense of excitement and expectation
and this must be amongst the favorite arenas have supporters all over the
world it really does have a very special feel to it
well that has got the juices flowing and now this
a mouth-watering game this between two very high quality sides a treat
for everybody here oh get ready for some high grade football peter two strong teams as you say
full of wonderful individual talent and we have every right to anticipate some
really entertaining football as to whether we'll see a high scoring contest
that's a little harder to predict i'm not complaining though because
there are good players everywhere you look around this surface and that's a fine start in itself
and we're underway jim who do you reckon he's pivotal yeah
luka modric he's someone peter who reads the game that little bit quicker than everyone else
he's got fantastic technique too and that allows him to weigh his through balls to near perfection
as well as keep hold of it when he's under pressure he's a real leader out there someone
who can take control of the game and maintain it yes they'll certainly be leaning heavily on him
now it's benzema griezmann griezmann there's alerts of the possibilities but in the end it's
fruitless and tt france with the majority of possession so far it is still early it's griezmann
oh he did the hard part right but fluff the finish
that was created because of good lively movement which pretty much dictated the pass
feed up hernandez
france keep the ball but can't do anything meaningful with it
he spotted the run and played him through kovachic needed to come up with a better ball i
was too timid to make it through the defense it'll be noted and improved upon i'm sure
baran and here's griezmann good challenge he just stood firm and it's griezmann perisic
great strength too strong for his opponent done very well to intervene
uh he acknowledges that he should have come up with something better there
the movement was good but the past lacked authority uh a cause of mild frustration
teresitch finds himself eased off the ball
raphael
well played he saw that coming rubbish goes up and over and that's put paid to a promising move
now it's perisic
coleman now it's griezmann um
heading towards half time and it is still scoreless it's a fabulous position um
oh that is very close really took control of that which was exactly what the situation required
croatia getting a lot of touches here but they're not making much progress
dink swan in rubbish provides an outlet
pavar
referee's had a look and he's blown his whistle for half time so both sides have drawn blanks
they have toiled at times but it's not been a bad game by any means in the opposition attack
extremely well interesting half just missing goals so don't be surprised if the second half brings a
change to the scoreline at the break nil now we're probably into the second 45 minutes france clearly
have been the better side for me yeah i know the score doesn't quite reflect it but if they
go about their game in the same manner as the opening 45 minutes things really should improve
lovren modric kovach tries to get it forward quickly
griezmann
cut out in the nick of time
it goes paul needed to be better there it's a wasted chance and here's kante um
it's broken loose
perisic
so we've reached the hour mark very little to report from an attacking perspective jim
it's a cagey old game well i think it's a fair reflection on what we've seen so far neither side
has produced that many efforts at goal simply because respective defenses have been strong
drives it forward
brings the ball forward um timely intervention
blessed hoist it forward raphael varane
and it's griezmann decent looking ball has a goal good run lovely take but that is where
it stopped it didn't quite come off on this occasion but it only needs a gentle tweak
we have got changes here from both sides in fact
pavar positions himself well and cuts it out he gets past his man and it's paid forward and
lovely bit of skill there it's a loose ball
has a hit that's a half decent try
a couple of changes then in quick succession yeah he's run himself
into the ground hasn't he and it's it's good to see that the crowd
appreciate his efforts because he has put in a reel on a shift
he's had a shot gets good distance on it it's come loose
let's put it on the right now what's on how many interceptions have we seen now
someone's got to up the quality and and set an example griezmann and bappe rakitic gets it back
modric michelle co there's only one word for this it's baffling that
team needs to figure out where the ball needs to be and it's not there
well both sides might have to settle for a draw here although there's still a chat he hits it
oh great save real class well what can i say truly wonderful goalkeeping
he's had a look it's wreckage
chance danger averted for now croatia don't have many options and time is running out
and there goes the final whistle and stalemate one if not for fans then perhaps for coaches
satisfied by organization and solidity