Giroud brace helps France beat Iceland 5-2
Paris, July 4 (IANS) Olivier Giroud scored twice France cruised into the last four of the tournament after beating Iceland 5-2 at Stade de France here on Sunday.
Paul Pogba, Dimitri Payet and Antoine Griezmann also scored against Iceland which stunned the football world by coming from behind to beat England 2-1 in the last 16. Didier Deschamps’ side will now meet Germany in Marseille on Thursday.
Blaise Matuidi set up Olivier Giroud for the opener and the floodgates quickly opened, France 4-0 up by half-time.
Debutants Iceland restored some pride through Kolbeinn Sigthorsson’s close-range finish before Giroud added his second of the night for France. Birkir Bjarnason pulled another back with eight minutes left, but the damage had long since been done.
Against England Iceland responded almost immediately to falling behind, but France refused to allow them a route back into the game.
