Clinical France advances to the final by defeating Morocco 2-0
France qualified for the final of FIFA World Cup 2022 as they defeated Morocco by a 2-0 margin on Wednesday at the Al Bayt Stadium courtesy of Theo Hernandez and Randal Kolo Muani scoring the goals for the defending champions.
France head coach Didier Deschamps made two changes to the team that defeated England 2-1 in the quarter-finals. Dayot Upamecano and Adrien Rabiot were unavailable because of illness and were respectively replaced by Ibrahima Konate and Youssouf Fofana respectively.
Similarly, Morocco head coach Walid Regragui also made two changes to his team after a 1-0 win over Portugal. Yahia Attiyat Allah was replaced by Noussair Mazraoui, while Selim Amallah made way for Achraf Dari.
France struck very early on in the game, scoring their first goal in the 5th minute. After receiving a defense-splitting pass from Raphael Varane, Antoine Griezmann laid a pass for Kylian Mbappe. While the Paris Saint-Germain attacker’s shot was blocked by one of Regragui’s defenders, Hernandez scored from the rebound.
Morocco’s first attempt came five minutes later when Azzedine Ounahi went for glory. The Angers midfielder kept his shot on target, but could not beat a diving Hugo Lloris in the France goal. Seven minutes later, Sofiane Boufal found Hakim Ziyech inside the box with a pass, but the Chelsea player could not keep his shot on target.
Les Blues had a glorious opportunity of doubling their lead only a minute later when Olivier Giroud received a ball from deep, but his powerful shot struck the crossbar and stayed out. Fofana had an attempt in the 35th minute, but his shot was not on target either.
Chances kept on falling for Deschamps’ team and the best of the lot came a minute later. After Mbappe’s shot was cleared by Jawad El Yamiq, Aurelien Tchoumeni directed the deflected ball towards Giroud’s path, but the AC Milan frontman was yet again not accurate enough.
Hugo Lloris had a good day under the sticks for France
The complexion of the game changed soon and just before the half-time break, Morocco almost restored parity in the game. From a corner, Yamiq tried an overhead kick only for his effort to be spectacularly saved by Lloris.
Morocco started the second half brightly and nearly scored a goal in the 53rd minute when Boufal launched a brilliant cross into the box, but Youssef En-Nesyri could not meet it.
After soaking in the pressure, France had their first chance in the second half through a Jules Kounde shot in the 69th minute. While he was adjudged offside, Marcus Thuram had a better chance only two minutes later, but his effort did not trouble Yassine Bounou.
The Atlas Lions could have made Deschamps’ men pay for the missed chances when Abderrazak Hamdallah used his trickery to beat quite a few blue shirts and enter the box, but he could not do the most important bit – taking the shot.
The game was then effectively put to bed by French substitute Randal Kolo Muani in the 79th minute. Mbappe wriggled his way past defenders before taking a shot, which took a deflection before falling for the Eintracht Frankfurt midfielder who calmly slotted it into an unguarded net. The last chance of the game fell to Morocco, but the opportunity went begging again as Kounde put in a goal-line block.
With this win, France has qualified for their fourth World Cup final and they will take on Argentina on Sunday at the Lusail Stadium.
