The story of Morocco is over.
Quick start
The French national team differs from other successful teams at this World Cup in that it does not have any characteristic features associated with the distribution of time for goals or periods of pressure. Distributes his efforts evenly. And they can come at any time of the meeting. Like this time. It is unlikely that anyone expected a strong effort from France at the very beginning of the meeting. But he opened the scoring in his first attack. It turned out to be a bit chaotic, but the Mbappe factor played a part.
Kilian received the ball in the box from the omnipresent Griezmann and was immediately surrounded by a whole crowd of defenders of Morocco. In another situation, probably such an immediate reaction from the departments would have pleased the Moroccan coach. But not when these actions have been taken at the expense of efficiency. After all, another area has been exposed. And after Mbappe hit the defender, the ball rebounded from the libero Hernandez, who showed the ability to lift his leg high and punched the goalkeeper and the defender who was trying to stop the ball on the goal line. It all happened in the fifth minute.
Continuous pressure
The French national team is not one of those teams who try to squeeze the most out of themselves when everything suits them. Sometimes it’s annoying, sometimes it’s creepy. But in this case, after a quick goal, the French did not retreat and kept this score. This means that such a reaction in them is not a reflex, but a conceived step. After all, after the match with the England national team, the French, having opened the scoring, pressed too hard against the goal and conceded a lot to the opponent.
There were mixed feelings. Is it fear or a conscious calculation for quick counterattacks? The match against Morocco partly answered this question. In the match with this opponent, after a quick goal, the French did not change the nature of the game and were able to score more before the break. What is a Giroud shot in the Bunu goal post.
And such a game of the French provoked open football, as the Moroccans were also forced to act actively. It turned out that already in the first half, France had nine shots on the opponent’s goal, while Morocco had five attempts. And both teams hit the target twice. Lloris and the French defender didn’t feel comfortable.
About defense. Deschamps, as one might expect, was not too happy with how the left centre-back’s box looked in the match against England. There, Upamecano conceded too much to Saka, Henderson and Kane. Therefore, even in the duel responsible for the semifinal, the coach replaced him with Konate. However, before the final, Deschamps had more headaches and thoughts. It cannot be said that the combination of Varane with Konate against Morocco turned out to be much more reliable than Upamecano with Raphael. A difficult choice lies ahead.
But the replacement in the support zone of Rabiot for Fofana was forced. And Yusuf looked great. In general, with Tchuameni and Griezmann, they formed a very strong and mobile triangle in the center of the field. The French prove once again that, despite everything, they have world-class central midfielders. Individual players may squabble and entire generations change, but France’s top-flight central midfielders are being produced like on an assembly line.
Slowed down
It is obvious that France took the first half to the final without any particular additional instructions from Deschamps. Therefore, he acted with effort, exactly as from the first minutes. The plan had more than one goal, so you could feel calmer in the future. But there were no goals after Hernandez’s ball. And while the French still slowed down.
However, here we can talk about some conclusions drawn by the Moroccans. They discarded all prejudices, remembered where they were and who they were playing against, and set themselves free. Contributed to this and the first attempts of France play frankly for time. This is often punished. The Moroccans have been close to us from time to time and have also equalized the percentage of ball possession, as well as placing natural pressure on Lloris’ goalkeeper’s box. In this segment, France didn’t seem very confident, to put it mildly.
At the same time, Deschamps’ wards managed to hold out in the key critical segment of the meeting – the opening period of the second half. Until the fuse received from the Moroccans during the break went out and the forces of unsuccessful pressure left them. Subsequently, there would be substitutions.
Permutations of points
It should be noted that in the middle of the second half Regragi felt a weakening of the effect of a knock at half-time and a certain blur. He did not hesitate to replace a couple of leaders soon enough: En-Nesiri and Bufal. And during the interval he took Mazraoui off the field. Also quite unexpected. These non-standard decisions, one might say, shook the team, but only sporadically.
Deschamps did not particularly want to change – everything suited him. But to freshen up potential on the break at the end of the match, he first released Thuram instead of Giroud, and then Randal Kolo instead of Dembele. Ousmane’s departure seems like a standard move for Deschamps, but Randal came on unexpectedly. And it came in handy right away.
Less than a minute after Colo’s exit, the Mbappe factor worked again. He broke through into the penalty area, where the defenders again clung to him, and after Kilian hit the ball it bounced off the post to Randal, who charged into an empty corner. It was his first touch. A more successful appearance in the World Cup semi-finals could not be thought of.
It should be noted that the second half was perhaps more combative, but less sharp than the first. The Moroccans struck eight blows in the second half, and the French – five. However, nobody scored in the second half. in the gate.
Preview of the final
The final between Argentina and France looks intriguing. There is not only a confrontation between Messi and Mbappe, but also a battle between two very powerful teams in the long run. Judge for yourself, the Argentines reach the final for the second time in the last three world championships. For the French it is the fourth final in the last seven World Cups and the second final in a row, which is generally a rarity. Recently, the winners of the World Cup have more often upset their fans by absenteeism from the group.
Previously, five teams managed to reach the final twice in a row. True, the last time was a long time ago. And Argentina did it – in 1986 and 1990. Only Italy managed to defend their title in 1938 and Brazil in 1962. It hasn’t been like this for a while.
At the World Cup, this meeting between Argentina and France will be the fourth. The last time they met was in the round of 16. world Cup-2018, and then the French won with a score of 4:3. And in 1930 and 1978 the Argentines won. In total, 13 matches were played between these teams, in seven cases Argentina won, in three cases France.
Worthy of special mention Deschamps stats, who spent 18 matches at the world championships as a coach. He has only two defeats and two draws, but 14 wins. According to this indicator, he caught up with Luis Felipe Scolari, who worked with Portugal and Brazil. Only former German national team coach Helmut Schön is ahead of him with 16 victories. By the way, even if successful in the final, Deschamps will not pass. And then it is unlikely that he still trains at the world championships. Although, what the hell is not kidding.
