The French team, one of the youngest sides in the tournament, proved their credentials as frontrunners to win the 2018 World Cup by overcoming Uruguay 2-0 in the first quarterfinals.

Raphael Varane’s glancing header and a goalkeeping blunder that gifted Antoine Griezmann a soft goal was enough to bring the mighty Uruguayans to their knees and send France into the last four.

Varane’s 40th-minute header from a Griezmann free kick was only the second goal Uruguay had conceded all tournament. 

The South Americans went close to equalising just before the break only for Martin Caceres’s goal-bound header to be brilliantly turned onto a post by goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.

But it was an error by Uruguay keeper Fernando Muslera that settled it when he tried to palm a routine long-range, swerving Griezmann shot after 61 minutes but misjudged it and allowed it to slip past him.

Uruguay, hard-hit by the absence of injured key striker Edinson Cavani, showed plenty of commitment trying to find a way back but France controlled the ball well to secure their Saint Petersburg semi-final slot.