Mbappé Leads France Past Morocco and Into the Semifinals
- Philip Fox
- 14 hours ago
- 3 min read
Credit Sky Sports
NATIONAL SOCCER NEWS: www.nationalsoccernetwork.com
France and Morocco met on July 9th in the first of four quarterfinal matches. France got there by surviving a strong Paraguay defense 1-0, while Morocco rolled through co-host Canada 3-0. These two teams had met four years earlier in the semi-final of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. France won 2-0 then. Would they continue their dominant run to the final, like the last tournament, or would Morocco pull the upset and avenge the last tournament's results?
France started a lineup similar to their round-of-16 lineup, with one change in the offensive midfield. France started in a 4-2-3-1 formation under French manager Didier Deschamps. Mike Maignan started in goal. The defensive four had Jules Koundé at right back, Dayot Upamecano and William Saliba as the center-back duo, and Lucas Digne at left back. The French defensive midfielders were Kouadio Koné and Adrien Rabiot. In the attacking midfield, Ousmane Dembélé started on the right wing, Michael Olise in attacking midfield, and Désiré Doué on the left wing. Sitting at the top in the striker position was captain Kylian Mbappé.
Morocco also started in a 4-2-3-1 formation under Belgium manager Mohamed Ouahbi. In goal, Yassine Bounou started. At right back sat captain and Paris Saint-Germain star Achraf Hakimi; Issa Diop and Noussair Mazraoui started as the center-back pair, while Anass Salah-Eddine started at left back. The Atlas Lions started Ayyoub Bouaddi and Neil El Aynaoui in defensive midfield. Brahim Diaz started on the right wing, Azzedine Ounahi in attacking midfield, and Chemsdine Talbi on the left wing. Bilal El Khannouss started as the lone striker.
The first half was mostly spent with France on the offensive, while Morocco tried to keep the ball away from the French. In the 25th minute, Les Bleus got the first opportunity to take the lead after Mazraoui took down Mbappé in the penalty box. The French captain took the shot himself to try and tie Messi’s current lead in the Golden Boot race. The VAR delay seemed to distract Mbappé, who gently placed the ball to the keeper’s left. Bounou got down and held onto the penalty shot to keep the game tied at zero.
Morocco had only one shot in the entire first half, and it was a free kick that Hakimi sent wide of the net.
The first half ended with France holding 49% possession, taking 13 shots, 3 on target, while Morocco took only 1 shot, which was off target.
Morocco started the second half, seeming to have had a good conversation in the locker room about needing some offense to counter the strong defense they had held for 45 minutes thus far. In the 56th minute, Mbappé was served a perfect pass by Olise and only had the keeper to beat, but sent the ball high and wide. Semi-luckily, the flag was raised for offside.
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again, and that's exactly what Mbappé did. Doué fed the ball right to his captain, who powered the ball and bent it around Diop and into the right side of the net. Absolutely beautiful from the French captain!
The French continued only six minutes later, with the French captain feeding the ball to Dembélé and faking a run to the outside to draw a couple of defenders away. Dembélé then struck the ball perfectly to the right side of the net to double the lead.
The French were now strongly in control of the game and felt confident. The second half continued with a few shots from each side, but nobody got one on target. The game finished with France holding 48% possession and taking 22 shots. Eight of them were on target, while Morocco took four more shots compared to the first half, and this time one of them was on target.
Mbappé now led the Golden Boot race thanks to the tiebreaker rule, which went to assists right after the most goals. Argentina and Norway are both set to play separate games on Saturday, with Haaland and Messi trying to take the lead in the Golden Boot race.
France will play either Spain or Belgium on July 14th in Dallas in the World Cup semifinals.
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