World Cup 2022 LIVE: England vs France ‘joke’ referee kept on as Gareth Southgate ‘conflicted’ about future

Harry Kane’s missed second penalty proved costly on Saturday – but past England spot-kick statistics show no evidence to support a change of taker.

It is the fourth time Kane has taken two penalties in the same England game and his first miss in those matches, while on the two occasions England have switched mid-match the second taker has missed.

Three times on the way to his record-equalling 53 England goals, Kane has scored two penalties in a match as part of a hat-trick.

The first of those, against Panama, helped him to the Golden Boot at the last World Cup as he scored six times in total on England’s run to the semi-finals.

He repeated the feat in a 4-0 European Championship qualifying win over Bulgaria the following year and again, scoring four goals in all, as England beat San Marino 10-0 last November in the qualifying campaign for the current World Cup.

A company based in Dorset is facing a ‘major loss’ after purchasing 18,000 T-shirts sporting the message: “England, World Cup winners 2022”.

Mr Baxter, managing director of Poole-based Wholesale Clearance UK, had intended to sell the shirts for £29.99 each, but he has now put them on sale at £9.99 per item. The shirts carry the message: “England, World Cup winners 2022. [Football is] finally home.”

“I’m absolutely gutted that England has been knocked out of the World Cup,” Mr Baxter said in a press release. “I have been really impressed with England’s performance in Qatar and was sure they would win this year’s tournament. When approached by a supplier to sell the shirts, I simply couldn’t say, ‘No.’

“But now I’ve been left with 18,000 shirts that say they’ve won, and I’m not sure what to do.”

Former England international Joey Barton has called for Gareth Southgate to be sacked following the Three Lions’ quarter-final exit from the World Cup, saying “it’s time to stop rewarding failure [and] time to hire somebody who can win.”

England outplayed reigning world champions France for parts of their last-eight clash on Saturday but captain Harry Kane’s missed penalty six minutes from time cost them dearly in a 2-1 defeat.

Southgate took over as Three Lions boss after a disastrous Euro 2016 exit to Iceland and Sam Allardyce’s subsequent one-match reign and has rehabilitated the image and results of the national team. England reached the semi-finals at the 2018 World Cup during his first tournament in charge, then made their first major final for 55 years at Euro 2020 before the loss to the holders in Qatar over the weekend.

Southgate – who has a contract to the end of Euro 2024 – has said he feels ‘conflicted’ about whether to stay on as manager and is wary of making the wrong call but Barton, who played one game for England in 2007 and is now manager of mid-table League 1 side Bristol Rovers, is adamant he should be sacked.

Having returned from ‘retirement’ earlier this year after a fall-out with former manager Vahid Halilhodzic, Ziyech has flourished under Walid Regragui.

He is the team’s joint top-scorer at the tournament with two but leads the side for crosses, shots on target and passes and his link-up play with Hakimi is pivotal.

Morocco’s defensive style means Amrabat has a key role for the side, anchoring the base of midfield.

His performances at the tournament have seen him allocated an even more restricted job protecting the back four than he has at club level but it is one in which he has excelled.

The right-back’s quality was not in question, considering for whom he plays, but his importance to the team has become increasingly evident as the tournament has progressed. Hakimi has been a driving force from deep on the right and his audacious panenka in the shootout win over Spain highlighted his confidence.

Morocco’s emergence as the surprise package of the World Cup has seen them become the first African nation to reach the semi-finals of the tournament.

They have beaten Belgium, Spain – on penalties – and Portugal on their historic journey into the last four.

Here, we take a look at some of the players who have helped them get there.

The 31-year-old – known as Bono – was named LaLiga’s top goalkeeper last season and he has carried that form into this tournament. He has kept four clean sheets in five matches, conceding just once (to Canada), and saved two of Spain’s three penalties in the last-16 shootout.

Argentina take on Croatia in the first World Cup semi-final on Tuesday and they’re currently doing their pre-match press conference.

Nicolás Tagliafico is currently talking to the world’s media and has refused to apologise for his side’s aggression, which has been criticised after an ill-tempered quarter-final win over Netherlands, where the nastiness spilled over to the post-match scenes as well.

Tagliafico said: “We’re not machines, we’re humans, and that means things happen in games… they’ll probably keep happening. It’s two teams going for a dream.”

Tagliafico also chatted about Lionel Messi, saying: “He’s our captain, he’s our leader, he drives us, he motivates. When we go out on the pitch and know he’s with us, it motivates us.”

“We have made our people proud and our continent proud and so many people around the world proud,” he said. “When you watch Rocky you want to support Rocky Balboa and we are the Rocky of the World Cup.”

One unlikely story began in the backstreets of Philadelphia. Another stemmed from Montreal, Madrid and Morocco, given the importance of their diaspora. They have found fans in Africa and the Arab world. Morocco see themselves as the people’s champions. In a part of the world where it seemed the preference was for the rich and famous, for Brazil and Argentina as teams, for Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as players, they are the outsiders who have captured the imagination.

There were tears in the tunnel. Cristiano Ronaldo has spent too much of 2022 struggling to contain his emotions. This time, at least, he could be forgiven for displaying them. There may have been an element of selfishness about the way the substitute stalked off the pitch, leaving his teammates to commiserate with each other and acknowledge the outnumbered Portuguese contingent in the stands.

Certainly, a man who knows the cameras are trained on him scarcely felt supportive when shaking his head as Ruben Dias and Diogo Costa erred while Youssef En-Nesyri headed in the only goal; it was a Ronaldo-esque finish, but they often are, given the range and volume of goals he has scored over the last two decades.

One ambition will elude him, one medal escape him. The private grief may have been the reaction of a self-centred individual but, in a sense, his has been a solitary quest. He was the only survivor of the side who lost the 2006 semi-final to France but there will not be a second meeting with Les Bleus in the last four.

Richard Jolly on an icon exiting stage left – perhaps for good: