France 1-0 Belgium: Nervy Les Bleus progress to Euro 2024 quarter-finals  as Jan Vertonghen's late own goal separates the two nations after dire opening 85 minutes

The French, in their pinstripe design kit, are the height of chic elegance, and, you might suppose, among the sophisticates of this tournament. The evidence of it is proving rather hard to find.

Two own goals and a penalty have taken them to the quarter-finals and we still look for an end result to go with the counter-attacking pace which they are set up to exploit.

Progress is all that matters. Somewhere along the line – perhaps in that last eight game against Portugal or Slovenia in Hamburg on Friday – we will probably see Kylian Mbappe , captain and a Real Madrid player as of Monday, delivering his own unique imprint on things. But it hasn't happened yet. It would help if he were not reduced to chasing down blind alleys.

The man changed his mask here – smaller eyeholes, thicker and more plentiful fabric, an elaborate kind of mechanism to keep it on, at the back – though it did not seem to enhance his peripheral vision. The evidence of our own eyes these past few years tells us that Mbappe assassinates through that burning pace, though France's intricate, absorbed, sometimes maddening aesthetic, didn't allow for that.

Belgium's Jeremy Doku, not Mbappe, was this match's outstanding, free-flowing forward. A shining light in the first half - and part of Belgium's own counter-attacking force which had finally emerged from a painfully defensive mindset when, four minutes from time, Jan Vertonghen's kneecap proved decisive. An extension of the leg by the Dutch captain after substitute Randal Kolo Muani had spun around him and fired off a shot and suddenly Belgium's campaign was over. Such is the desperate jeopardy of the knock-out rounds.

It was hard on the smaller nation. Few will suffer more desperation in the aftermath than Kevin De Bruyne, presented with his country's outstanding chance, minutes before France's breakthrough. He fired an effort he would bury most days of the week in Manchester straight at France goalkeeper Mike Maignan.

MATCH FACTS

FRANCE (4-3-3): Maignan; Kounde, Upamecano, Saliba, Hernandez; Kante, Tchouameni, Rabiot; Griezmann, Thuram (Kolo Muani 62), Mbappe

Booked: Tchouameni, Rabiot, Griezmann.

Goal: Vertonghen (OG) 85

Manager: Didier Deschamps

BELGIUM (4-4-2): Casteels; Castagne (De Ketelaere 88), Fares, Vertonghen, Theate; Carrasco (Lukebakio 88), Onana, De Bruyne, Doku; Openda (Mangala 63), Lukaku

Booked: Vertonghen

Manager: Domenico Tedesco

Referee: Glenn Nyberg

Deschamps said that his team's absence of goals in open play was not a problem in a tournament where the total of own goals – nine – is greater than those of any single player. 'We always have the capacity and capability to score more. I know it's been tricky for us, but it doesn't mean we haven't had the chances. We don't want this to be a psychological barrier.'

France operated from deep, refusing to allow Belgium space into which they might counter-attack. 'Playing the waiting game and not giving them the space they were looking for,' as Deschamps put it. Aurelien Tchouameni dictated play back there, delivering the 40-yard diagonal for the outstanding Jules Kounde, whose cross was headed wide by Marcus Thuram – one a clutch of chances the forward failed to take. Kounde was outstanding; a constant threat as he attacked down that flank.

But there was painfully little end-result to show for a French game which became clogged up in the Belgian defensive mechanism. Mbappe found himself running at a wall of maroon, failing to find the target when several chances materialised.

Deschamps said afterwards that his forward was still adapting to the mask. 'You've got the sweat aspect and that can get into his eyes a little bit, even though he can wipe it out,' the coach said. 'It's his vision. From what he says, he is seeing the images in 3D. Even if we are talking about tenths of millisecond, things are a bit off. Perhaps in his peripheral vision there is a slight delay.'

French superiority did pay, with that finale which had the Belgians walking around the pitch wondering what had hit them and Belgium coach Domenico Tedesco too gloomy to answer most of the questions put to him.

A sign that Belgians' so-called golden generation continues to fade away came in De Bruyne's revelation that he is not sure whether he wishes to continue his international career. Tedesco, who said he had felt France could be exploited behind their lines, insisted he would try to keep him. 'Of course, he knows how important he is to us. He doesn't need my opinion about it. Straight after the game is not the time to ask these questions of him,' he said.

France have more immediate preoccupations. These struggles to score suggest they do not hold out the same threat as Spain or Germany, who meet on Friday, though Mbappe makes fools of those with any such presumptions. He makes France a perennial threat to anyone.