France ends Moroccan fairytale, sets up World Cup final with Argentina

Defending champion France defeated Morocco 2-0 in the semi-finals to reach the FIFA World Cup final for the second successive time.

On Wednesday night (December 14), at the Al Bayt Stadium in Qatar’s Al Khor, France ended Morocco’s historic run in the FIFA World Cup 2022 tournament.

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Theo Hernandez gave France an early lead in the fifth minute in front of more than 68,000 spectators, the majority of them supporting the Atlas Lions. In the second half, substitute Randal Kolo Muani sealed the game in the 79th minute.

Kolo Muani scored in just 44 seconds after coming off the bench in place of Ousmane Dembele. This is the third-fastest goal by a substitute in World Cup history.

Morocco had become the first African team to reach the World Cup final. It was for the first time in the tournament that Morocco had conceded goals to opposition players. Earlier, it had scored an own goal against Canada.

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The African team was hit by injuries to two of its best centre-backs. Nayef Aguerd competed in the warmup but didn’t come out for kickoff, while captain Romain Saiss lasted only 21 minutes before limping off with a hamstring injury.

Despite this, Morocco put up a spirited display and went down fighting.

Kylian Mbappe helped to create the first goal because his shot deflected off a defender and into the path of Hernandez, who let the ball bounce before driving a downward effort into the net from a tight angle.

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Typically a defence-first team, Morocco was forced to come out and play and, the team pinned back France. Jawad El Yamiq hit the post with an overhead kick in the 44th minute and France’s defenders had to make a number of last-ditch tackles in front of their own goal.

Mbappe enjoyed more space as Morocco tired and, after dribbling past two defenders, his deflected shot was tapped in by Kolo Muani, who had been on the field for less than a minute.

In Sunday’s (December 18) final, France faces two-time champion Argentina, which beat Croatia 3-0 in the first semi-final.

Mbappe has the chance to cement his status as football’s new superstar when he comes up against the 35-year-old Lionel Messi, who has dominated the game with Cristiano Ronaldo for the past 15 years.

Both Messi and Mbappe are in joint lead in the Golden Boot standings with five goals apiece.

France is bidding to become the first team in 60 years to win back-to-back World Cup trophies. Brazil had done it in 1958 and 1962.

In 2018, France had beaten Croatia to win the trophy in Russia.

Croatia and Morocco will contest the third-place play-off game on Saturday.

𝐖𝐄’𝐑𝐄 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐃 𝐂𝐔𝐏 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋! 🔥🔥🔥#FiersdetreBleus pic.twitter.com/mAuSIoX5vs

— French Team ⭐⭐ (@FrenchTeam) December 14, 2022

(With agency inputs)