France and Morocco national teams faced each other in the second semi-final match of the 2022 World Cup. Atlas Lions became the main sensation of the current World Cup, and the result of the encounter with the current champions could not deprive them of this status. The Moroccans surprised the entire football community by representing the African continent in the 1/2 final of the World Cup for the first time. And in the next match against the favorites, the players of the Moroccan national team had a psychological advantage, they had nothing to lose.

And Atlas Lions started the meeting quite confidently, not shying away from putting pressure on tough rivals. But a defensive mistake at the start of the match (that rarely happened with Moroccans at the 2022 World Cup, right?) created problems for the nominal guests. El-Yamik did not dare to block Varane’s vertical pass to Griezmann’s move and then made a cross in the middle of the penalty area. Mbappe was there, but two of his shots were blocked by the defender. Luckily for the French, Theo Hernandez, whose ball bounced from the right place to the corner of the keeper, shot past the keeper who came out to vaguely intervene.

Conceding an early goal, Moroccans immediately moved the game into their opponents’ penalty area. And the scoring chance was created by Unahi, who sent the ball into the far corner with a dribble: Lloris showed her brilliant response in this episode. The Atlas Lions continued to move actively, trying to quickly cross the center of the field. But the French did not forget about the attacks. One of them ended with Giroud’s kick, after which the ball hit the post.

Over time, the “tricolors” managed to push the game away from their own penalty area, and towards the end of the half, they missed the opportunity to double their advantage again. At first, Mbappe failed to shoot with an accent after reaching the goalkeeper, and a second later Giroud missed the target from a deadly position. The last minutes of the first 45 minutes passed with the attacks of the Moroccan national team. The masterpiece goal was almost scored by El-Yamik. After the rebound, the defender hit him with the “scissors” that fell on him and Lloris transferred the ball to the post.

At the beginning of the second half of the match, Valid Regraga’s wards made active attempts to level the score. And the French penalty had moments that could burst into tears for the reigning world champions. Tricolors tried to catch up with their opponents in counter attacks designed by Griezmann and Mbappe. Antoine provided partners with well-balanced passes and Kilian tried to use his speed stats.

But then the Moroccan offensive wick fell asleep and the fatigue of the African team players was evident. The French were quite pleased with this development: they controlled the pace and kept their opponents at a comfortable distance from the penalty area. And another burst of activity from the “tricolors” led to the second goal against Morocco. Mbappé prepared a hit with dribbles inside the penalty area, but the ball bounced off the defence’s foot into the corner of the goalkeeper, where Colo Muani, who remained on the pitch for less than a minute after arriving as a backup, failed to miss.

After that, the fate of the fight was almost inevitable and ended with the victory of the French team. It is noteworthy that at the 2002 World Cup, for the first time, the “tricolor” left the field without conceding a goal. Next Sunday, the French will face Argentina in the decisive match of the World Cup. And the Moroccan national team still has a chance to “slam the door” because they have a third place match against Croatia.

World Championship. 1/2 finals.

France – Morocco – 2:0

Hernandez (5), Colo Muani (79)

Buffalo (27)

France: Lloris, Kunde, Varane, Conate, Hernandez, Fofana, Tchuameni, Dembele (Colo Muani, 78), Griezmann, Mbappe, Giroud (M. Thuram, 65)

Morocco: Bonu, Hakimi, Al-Yamik, Ager, Mazrawi (Attiyat-Allah, 46), Sais (Amalla, 21; Abde, 78), Ziyesh, Unakhi, Amrabat, Bufal (Abuhlal, 66), An-Prose (Hamdallah, 66) ) )

Judge: Cesar Arturo Ramos (Mexico)

Al-Bayt Stadium (Al-Khaur, Qatar)

FRANCE – MOROCCO. TEXT BROADCAST OF THE MATCH