France's grim attack must improve to reach the Euro final

480 minutes, zero open play goals

France played three group stage games (270), a Round of 16 tie (90) and a quarterfinal that included overtime (120) for a whopping 480 minutes without scoring from open play.

A pair of own goals lifted the Frenchmen to two wins — one in the group stage against Austria before the same happened against Belgium in round one of the knockout phase.

A penalty kick conversion by Kylian Mbappe in a 1-1 group stage draw against Poland is France's only goal scored by one of its players.

Feeble France attack

From the eight quarterfinal participants, France ranks in the bottom three in shots on target per match, big chances created, possession and shots on target.

Among the four remaining teams, only England (nine) — who have scored three open play goals in its previous two matches — have created fewer big chances than Les Bleus (12) while the French are dead last in ball possession.

There are two metrics where France does rank in the top half, but big chances missed is not a stat a team would like to feature at the top part of the list.

How can France win Euro 2024?

The positive and most influential part of France's run to the semifinal is behind its stonewall defense.

Center-back pairing William Saliba and Dayot Upamecano have established a strong anchor at the back in front of goalkeeper Mike Maignan.

Together the trio helped France to a tournament-leading four clean sheets.

Just like its attack, France's opponents have scored zero goals from open play — Poland's Roberto Lewandowski's penalty is Les Bleus' only goal conceded.

Despite missing a match following a broken nose, Mbappe ranked inside the top three in total shots and shots on target among all players.

This helped lift France to fourth in expected goals, the other stat where Les Bleus rank in the top half among the quarterfinalists.

France will be facing the tournament's most impressive team Spain — leaders in every attacking metric mentioned above except possession (fourth) — in the semifinal.

A contrast of styles, the French — who depend on defense and take advantage of one or two key chances up top — need to keep Spain from scoring multiple goals on Tuesday if the former would like to be in Sunday's final.