A year ago
The FIFA World Cup semi-finals continued today, with France facing Morocco in their bid to reach the finals for the second time in a row. This game also provided an opportunity for Mbappe, the tournament's joint top scorer, to pull ahead of Messi in the race for the title.
Giroud, his teammate, will be hoping to improve his chances of winning the Golden Boot after scoring the game-winning goal for France against England in the quarter-finals. Meanwhile, Moroccan striker En-Nesyri would like to add to his goal tally after scoring the game-winning goal against Portugal in the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, France scored the game's first goal, with Hernandez finding the back of the net.
Meanwhile, the top scorers in the competition are as follows.
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FIFA World Cup 2022: France defeat resilient Morocco 2-0 to book date with magical Messi's Argentina
France ended Morocco's World Cup dream with a 2-0 win over Morocco in their semi-final clash, setting up a showdown with Lionel Messi's Argentina on Sunday.
Despite a hostile crowd, it appeared that France would make quick work of their opponents when Hernandez scored inside five minutes at Al Bayt Stadium. Morocco, the first African and Arab team to reach the World Cup quarterfinals, fought on despite losing key players to injury, only for Les Bleus to seal victory with a late second from substitute Kolo Muani.A meeting with Argentina
France will face Argentina in the World Cup final for the fourth time in seven years, hoping to become the first team to retain the trophy since Brazil 60 years ago when they face Argentina at Lusail Stadium on Sunday.
This will be billed as a showdown between Messi and his Paris Saint-Germain teammate Kylian Mbappe, but the latter's individual brilliance was not on display.
Instead, France won thanks to a team effort against a Moroccan team that will now face Croatia in the third-place play-off on Saturday.Organized and tenacious
Morocco advanced to the semi-finals by defeating Belgium in the group stage and then defeating Spain and Portugal.
The question was whether they could repeat the feat against the holders, and coach Walid Regragui's plans were thrown into disarray due to a slew of injuries.
After missing the quarter-finals, Nayef Aguerd was called up, only to withdraw at the last minute, with Achraf Dari filling in.
Then, after only 21 minutes, fellow defender and captain Romain Saiss had to abandon his teammates, and Morocco had fallen behind.France was met with deafening whistles from the huge Moroccan crowd when in possession, but they silenced the crowd with an early opener, Hernandez netting with an acrobatic volley at the back post after Mbappe's shot was deflected.It was also only Morocco's second goal conceded in this World Cup, and the first scored by an opponent.
afflicted with injuries
If the excellent Azzedine Ounahi forced a fine save from Hugo Lloris soon after, the evening could quickly turn into a rude reality check for them.
Olivier Giroud broke away after Saiss let a simple forward ball bounce over his head, but his shot hit the post.
When Saiss came off, Regragui dropped his back three to match France's 4-3-3.
Morocco finished the half strongly and came close to tying the game when defender Jawad El Yamiq's overhead kick was tipped onto the post by Lloris following a corner.
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