The chances of the Arsenal and France international star Olivier Giroud finishing the summer as the top scorer from Euro 2016 look to be gone after his international team mate Antoine Griezmann scored twice against Germany in the semi-final to put him three ahead of Giroud on six goals.
The tournament has been good for the big Gunner though, and even if he and his French team mates do not manage to beat Portugal in the final he will finish the tournament with much more confidence and form than he started it and his reputation with the French fans and football media will be much better.
That probably goes for the Arsenal fans and the English football press as well and I have the feeling that at least one of his club colleagues will be looking at Giroud with more respect. I am talking about Mesut Ozil who seemed to be getting more and more frustrated with the centre forward’s profligacy in front of goal last season.
Ozil has had the same problem with Germany at Euro 2016 as the likes of Muller, Gotze and Gomez have all been guilty of squandering chances. The biggest problem for the Germans came last night against France though, after their only specialist centre forward Gomez was ruled out through injury.
That left Germany with no real focal point up front and so despite completely dominating possession they were unable to make much headway in front of goal. This is one of the major things that Giroud offers to Arsenal even when his shooting radar is off, so will Ozil now appreciate the Frenchman more after seeing Germany struggle without a target man?
Bob.