Stylish French have the tools to oust gritty Belgians

SET those alarm clocks, folks. Believe me, you won't want to miss a second of the remaining four matches of the World Cup in Russia.

Sixty games are done and dusted, and this most intriguing of football tournaments now enters the semi-final stage. From the 32 hopefuls that began their World Cup quest nearly a month ago, we are down to the final four nations.

The competition now has a distinctly European flavour, as all the semi-finalists are from Europe. Of the quartet, two of them - France and England - are former World Cup champions.

The French, winners on home soil back in 1998, will lock horns with high-flying Belgium in the first semi-final in Saint Petersburg (Wednesday 2am kickoff, Singapore time).

A day later in Moscow, the 1966 champions England will attempt to book their place in this Sunday's grand final when they take on Croatia.

If ever there was a football match that could be described as "too close to call", France against Belgium would surely fit the bill.

The French - the bookies' new favourites for the trophy now that Brazil have bid adieu - have reached the final week of the tournament without hitting top gear, and that is worrying for the Belgians.

After stuttering their way through the group stage with two unconvincing wins over Peru and Australia and a tepid goalless draw with Denmark, Les Bleus finally turned on the style in the knockout stage by eliminating two South American opponents.

France put on an attacking masterclass by knocking out Lionel Messi's Argentina 4-3 in the Round of 16, and then ousted Uruguay 2-0 in the quarter-finals.

Some say it is France's youthful exuberance that has taken them this far. Deschamps brought with him the second-youngest roster at this year's World Cup, and he has been richly rewarded with some fine performances by the likes of 19-year-old forward Kylian Mbappe and attacking fullbacks Benjamin Pavard and Lucas Hernandez, who are both 22.

The unsung hero of France's starting 11 is N'Golo Kante, a midfield dynamo whose pace and wizardry have proven a handful for opposing defences as they struggle to handle his piercing runs.

Belgium, a team nicknamed "The Red Devils", have enjoyed a rich vein of goalscoring form at this tournament.

They scored nine goals to win all three of their group games, and followed that up with five more strikes in the knockout stage to oust Japan and, impressively, the five-time winners Brazil.

Belgium have found the back of the net at least twice in four of their five World Cup matches in Russia.

Their leading scorer is Romelu Lukaku, the Manchester United striker who has four goals to his name but hasn't found the net in the knockout rounds as yet.

The 25-year-old will be desperate to add to his tally as he still has an outside chance of overtaking England's Harry Kane, who has six goals, as the tournament's top scorer.

Since taking over in August 2016, Belgium coach Roberto Martinez has led his players to a 24-match unbeaten streak (19 wins and five draws), a proud record that's a testament to his ability to integrate his team's individual talent into a formidable and collective force.

Given the attacking prowess of both France and Belgium, all signs point towards a mouth-watering goal-fest at the sold-out 67,000-seat Saint Petersburg Stadium.

The one and only time these two nations met at the World Cup was 32 years ago in Mexico, and that game - a play-off to decide the third-placed team - saw six goals as France needed extra time to defeat Belgium 4-2.

If anything, history is on the side of the French, as Belgium have won only two of the last 10 matches between the two sides, although the last meeting in 2015 saw Belgium winning 4-3 in a friendly in Paris.

No one will be too surprised if extra time or even the lottery of penalty kicks will be needed to separate these two in-form teams in Saint Petersburg, although I fancy France to have just about enough pedigree in their arsenal to edge it and send the Belgians home.