FRANCE and Belgium will do battle for the right to play in the World Cup final. Les Bleus are hoping to emulate their success in 1998, while their European counterparts will play in their first semi-final in 32 years after knocking out Brazil. 1 Belgium and Manchester City midfielder Kevin de Bruyne celebrates after they beat Brazil to reach the semi-finals Credit: Getty - Contributor Have France and Belgium played each other at the World Cup? France and Belgium have played each other twice at the World Cup. The first time was back in the opening round in 1938, when the French recorded a 3-1 win. And it would be 48 years when the teams would meet again, albeit in less significant circumstances. Goals from Jean-Marc Ferreri, Jean-Pierre Papin, Bernard Genghini and Manuel Amoros (pen) helped Les Bleus to a 4-2 extra time win in the 1986 third/fourth place play-off. How many times have France and Belgium played each other and who has won the most matches? France and Belgium are very familiar foes, having played each other a staggering 73 times. And it's the Belgians who have the better head to head record, having won 30 to the French's 24 and 19 games ending in a draw. But in competitive games, France have won 5 with Belgium winning 3 and 3 draws. The last match between the two teams took place in 2015 with Belgium running out 4-3 winners with two Marouane Fellaini goals in an exciting friendly in Paris. MOST READ IN WORLD CUP 2018 NO HARD FEELINGS Man dumped by Gareth Southgate's wife insists he holds no grudge 'i want a girl' England star Kyle Walker's model girlfriend reveals she wants FOURTH baby<doc-sep>Mitch Freeley You can watch the World Cup semi-final between France & Belgium via beIN SPORTS CONNECT. Tweet your predictions of the game to Mitch Freeley via Twitter. Match Report Samuel Umtiti was the unlikely hero as France reached the World Cup final for the third time in 20 years courtesy of a 1-0 win over Belgium in St Petersburg on Tuesday. Defender Umtiti headed home a corner from Antoine Griezmann in the 51st minute to settle the all-European tie, booking Les Bleus a trip to Moscow and a clash against either Croatia or England. Goalkeepers Hugo Lloris and Thibaut Courtois both made smart saves to make sure an intriguing game remained scoreless at the interval. However, Umtiti popped up with the game's telling moment early in the second half, nodding the ball home to score his third international goal. Belgium pushed hard for an equaliser but Roberto Martinez watched on as his team suffered their first defeat in 25 outings, ending their hopes of winning the tournament for the first time in history as their so-called golden generation came up short. Beaten finalists at Euro 2016 on home soil, France will aim to go one better in Russia and emulate the successful squad of 1998 which included Didier Deschamps, who could emulate Mario Zagallo and Franz Beckenbauer by winning the World Cup as both a player and manager. With Thomas Meunier suspended, Belgium shifted to a back four as Martinez selected Nacer Chadli on the right. Still, the change in shape did not appear to bother the tournament's top-scorers in an absorbing first half, both teams threatening a breakthrough as they refused to be overawed by the occasion. Eden Hazard twice went close, narrowly missing the target with a low, left-footed drive before seeing a curler with his right deflected over by the head of the centre-back Raphael Varane. Lloris' full-length dive kept out a first-time strike from Tottenham colleague Toby Alderweireld, while Courtois reacted quickly to block Benjamin Pavard's attempt from a tight angle at the other end. While the full-back at least hit the target, Olivier Giroud failed to test Courtois when presented with a clear sight of goal by Kylian Mbappe's volleyed cross, poking his attempt well wide under pressure. However, France needed just six minutes after the break to edge ahead. After Vincent Kompany's block turned away Giroud's shot, Griezmann's inswinging delivery to the front post was turned in by Umtiti, who beat Marouane Fellaini to head beyond Courtois. Martinez - who had seen his team rally from a two-goal deficit in their last-16 tie against Japan - reacted to the goal by sending on Dries Mertens in place of Mousa Dembele. The substitute offered a threat from Belgium's right wing too, with one teasing cross from the flank seeing Fellaini narrowly miss the target with a header as he looked to make amends for his part in the opener. Axel Witsel did test Lloris from distance but France succeeded where Brazil had failed in the last round, standing firm to stifle their neighbours in a nervy finish and book a trip to Moscow. Live Updates! Second Half 90+6 Peeep! Full time! 1-0 Les Bleus! France is in the World Cup final for the first time since 2006! Samuel Umtiti's header was the difference maker in the end. Match Report to follow! 90-6 Short corner! 90+5 What a chance for France... Pogba on the break squares to Tolisso, his drive is tipped out for a corner by Courtois 90+3 Jan Vertongen gets a yellow for clattering into Mbappé 90+2 Pogba lays it to Griezmann his shot is easily saved. 90+1 Chadli is off for that... Batshuayi is on... can he be an unlikely hero? I doubt it... 90+1 Chadli hauls down Pogba deep in the Belgium half... I would play it short... 90- Six miutes of extra time... 88- Belgium need to get a move on if they want to grab a goal... passing it around the midfield won't do now... 86- Belgium is pushing for a goal here. Hazard goes on a mazy run, Chelsea team-mate Kante knocks him down, Free-kick Belgium and a yellow card for the midfield battler. 85- Another France Sub Tolisso is on for Matuidi, who has ran his socks off tonight. 84- France fans seem to be doing the Poznan. Meanwhile, Les Bleus make a sub- Giroud is off... Steven N'zonzi is on... time to grind out this 1-0 win 80- Witsel cracks from outside the box, his curling drive is beaten away by Loris. That was a chance for the Red Devils! 78- That previously advertised sub for Belgium is on... Fellaini is off Yannick Carasco is on. 77-Mbappé is hauled down by Fellaini who grabs his shirt... dangerous free-kick for France... Umtiti heads it over... 76- Yannick Carasco is coming on for Belgium. Will the Chineese Super League start be the difference maker? Duru Christopher chimes in... I give it to the French... So far... you are right... @mitchos I give to the French — Duru Christopher (@Madibalionheart) July 10, 2018 73- France have been so solid defensively, they are happy to head away from anything Belgium throws into the box. 72- Uhoh! Umtiti his down and holding his cheeks (face) he seems okay. Play on! 70- Yellow for Tobi Alderweireld as he knocks down Matuidi. 66- A great bit of play from France... Mbappé crosses to Griezmann who kills the ball with a perfect first touch, A quick pass to an unrushing Giroud, who smashes high over the bar. Oh my. 64- Mertens crosses to Fellaini his booming header is wide of the French goal. 61- Hazard cynically fouls Matuidi. Yellow card for Real Madrid's number one transfer target... 60-Chadli who has been a real danger on the wing wins a corner for Belgium... Umtiti heads away 59- Martinez is rolling the dice. Mousa Dembele, who so valiantly blocked Giroud minutes earlier is off. Winger Dries Mertens is on. 58- France is growing in confidence here, and are keeping the ball well. 54- Mbappé with an outrageous back heel to Giroud who is clear on goal. Dembele comes in with a world-class block to deny the Chelsea striker. 51- Goal! The corner is knocked to the near post, Umtiti gets the leap on Fellaini and nods it in. Que silly celebration! 1-0 France! 50- Chance for France. Matuidi knocks the ball to Giroud who turns to shoot. Kompany gets a crucial block. Corner France. 47- Witsel knocks in a cross from deep, Lukaku gets a head to it! It flies over, it should have been on target. 46- Mbappé runs at the Belgian defence from the right wing! Vertongen quickly nips the ball of the PSG teenager Peep Romelu Lukaku get us back underway. Half-Time Fun Fancy some Graeme Souness reaction to Ronaldo moving to Juventus? Of course, you do! First Half Peep! 0-0 at the break, it's been very enjoyable. Both sides probing for chances! It's all even at the break! Join me in 15 for more World Cup fun. 45+1- De Bruyne curls a ball in from the Right, a rare error from Umtiti who slices the ball, Lukaku can't react in time and the ball is out for a goal-kick! 45- One minute of extra time 44- Pogba is hauled down by Dembele. A dangerous Free-Kick. It's wasted by Griezmann. He's been frustrating so far this evening. 41- I think France need to get Pogba on the ball a little more. His passing has been good so far, could be the key to unlock this Belgian defence. 39- Mbappé and Pavard link up well. Suddenly Pavard is one on one, and aims to guide the bottom far corner. Courtois pulls off a save with his leg. The corner is cleared. 36- France hit Belgium on the counter-attack. Griezmann charges through the midfield beats three men. It doesn't quite open up for him, but he shoots anyway and it squirts out of play. The shot didn't really match up to the quality of the running. 35- This has been mile a minute stuff... It's delicately poised. Who is going to make the breakthrough<doc-sep>It was greeted there by Belgium, whose own golden generation was supposed to provide a significantly more exacting test, to force the French out of their shells, to demand that Manager Didier Deschamps’s richly gifted players finally live up to their lofty reputations. For 50 minutes, the Belgians threatened to do just that, to draw this team into the open field. And then Samuel Umtiti scored — slipping his marker to meet Griezmann’s corner — and France drew back once more, content to contain and control. Deschamps’s players let Belgium burn itself out, deprived it first of hope, and then of life, all the while not expending a drop of energy more than was strictly necessary. Belgium’s Eden Hazard, in particular, had started the game as a ball of energy, twisting and turning and writhing his way past Benjamin Pavard, France’s right back; Hazard had the look of a player very conscious of the fact that this was his chance to stake a claim for greatness. By the end, he looked adrift. He had long since wandered into central midfield, craving some sort of space, some sort of peace, only to find neither. His sparkle had gone, and so had his spark. It was not — as might be expected, in the era of counter-pressing, that frenzied style of harrying and harassing that is so en vogue in European club soccer — because the French had pummeled him and his team into submission, barely allowing a moment’s rest, but because they had done the opposite: They waited as Belgium wandered into their sleeper-hold, and then simply refused to let go. That has been France’s unexpected forte in this tournament: its defensive strength, its imperturbability, the ease with which it blunts an attack. Only Argentina has scored against the French from open play. They are so assured in defense that none of those single-goal victories felt at all close, or tense; they all seemed to be over long before the final whistle. So, too, here: When the game ended, the explosion of joy from the French players, and their small squadron of fans, felt somehow out of place, out of context, with the torpor that had descended. France has achieved this not, as the teams of Pep Guardiola and Jürgen Klopp and Mauricio Pochettino seek to do, by seeking to coil itself around its prey, squeezing the breath from its opponents. Its approach resembles that of a crocodile, rather than a snake: It waits, pounces, and then sinks back beneath the surface, happy to wait again.<doc-sep>
Thibaut Courtois has accused France of parking the bus in their World Cup semi-final win over Belgium. Courtois’s Chelsea team-mate Eden Hazard has also weighed in, insisting he preferred to lose in the attacking manner that his Belgian side did rather than to progress as France have done. The Belgian players remain convinced that, but for a lapse in concentration which allowed Samuel Umtiti to score from a 51st minute corner, there was nothing between the two teams. Courtois said: "I'd have preferred to lose to Brazil in the quarter-finals, at least that was a team that wanted to play football. "France are just an anti-football team. (Image: Getty) "I wouldn't say that [Belgium] was better than us. They defended in their own half the entire time, we shouldn't have been surprised, they've done that all tournament. It's a shame.” Hazard added: “I prefer to lose with this Belgium than win with that France”. Their captain, Manchester City defender Vincent Kompany added: “We are disappointed. It was a game with very little between the teams. (Image: Reuters) “If it wasn’t for a set-piece, it was hard to see which team was going to get a breakthrough. It makes it harder because you lose a game that could have swayed one way or the other. We have to pick ourselves up.” Kompany’s Blues team-mate, Kevin De Bruyne, has insisted he and his team-mates could be proud of the manner in which they went out. He also dismissed talk that the country’s supposed Golden Generation had failed. “Bah! Generations, who talks about generations?” he said. "We are a small country. We can be very happy and lucky that we can have a team like we have. "We don't have the resources, the infrastructure, the money that other countries have. What we have is a really good team who have performed really well."