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ST. PETERSBURG: Les Bleus beat Uruguay 2-0 in their quarterfinal to set up the last-four clash against neighbors Belgium, who beat Brazil 2-1 in their quarterfinal.
They go in as slight favorites but with so many of the players familiar to each other there is very little the two sides do not know about each other.
For Giroud that means one thing: It is going to be a tense battle, which will seem like a derby match.
“We don’t want to have them taking the mickey out of us. There is a big rivalry between France and Belgium, it’s like a derby match,” the France striker said.
And the presence of French World Cup winner Thierry Henry on the Belgian coaching staff as one of Roberto Martinez’s assistants adds extra spice to the occasion.
“It will be bizarre to have him up against us,” Giroud said.
“He is a living legend of French football. He has given so much to the France team and we have got a lot of respect for what he has done. But we’re not thinking about it too much, we’re going to be focused on the pitch and our game.”
“Of course I would prefer it if he were with us and he were giving me his advice, but we mustn’t be jealous.”
The slick Belgium side, which boasts the talents of Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku, are the only team to have won all their matches in Russia and are the top scorers, with 14 goals.
Confidence is sky-high after they beat Brazil in the quarterfinals but they will come up against formidable opponents in France as they try to reach their first World Cup final.
“The players have been working together extraordinarily well for many years, and they deserve to be exactly where they are today,” Martinez said.
“I feel that the most important aspect we worked on was the notion of being a team. Individual skills and talent are important, but in these tournaments, it’s absolutely necessary to play as a team.
“It’s a trip into the unknown. We’ve never been in such a situation, and that’s why we need our team spirit more than ever against France. We need to be the best version of ourselves.”
Kylian Mbappe was lethal in France’s 4-3 second-round win over Argentina, using his pace to devastating effect, but Martinez said his side would not make the mistake of focusing solely on one player.
“Both (teams) have the right mix of youth and experience and also lots of individual talent,” he said.
“We will need to anticipate (Mbappe) and be well-positioned. We need to defend spaces more than the player himself. We are not going to forget the others since France have a complete attacking pattern.
“These players need to play without fear to keep all options open. Like a voyage to the moon: We need to face it full of illusions.”