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Clinical France Blow Brave Iceland Away, but Defensive Deficiencies Remain

France are in the semi-finals of the 2016 UEFA European Championship after their 5-2 thrashing of surprise package Iceland at Stade de France on Sunday.

Lars Lagerback and Heimir Hallgrimsson’s men were expected to give the hosts a thorough examination in Saint-Denis but instead looked spent from their victory over England in the round of 16.

Les Bleus opened the scoring through Olivier Giroud after 12 minutes and did not look back from there. Paul Pogba, Dimitri Payet and Antoine Griezmann all found the back of the net before the end of the first half, giving Didier Deschamps’ men a 4-0 lead at the break.