yesterday 12:05
|
In Wednesday’s second World Cup semi-final in Qatar, defending champions France and the biggest surprise of the tournament, the Moroccans, will meet for the first time at this stage of the World Cup.
FIFA World Cup 2022 news, schedule, results, analysis and commentary in one place >>
The rivals have never met on the World Cup stage. The French are two-time world champions and, as the third team in history, can triumph in two “World Cups” in a row. So far only the Italians (1934, 1938) and the Brazilians (1958, 1962) have succeeded.
Although the Moroccans are amazing, but deserved participants in the semifinals. In the previous five duels, they conceded only once to the Canadians, and that too was an own goal. They kept clean sheets against the Belgians, Croatians, Spain and Portugal, conceding only 10 shots on target.
Morocco is the first Arab and African country in the semifinals of the World Cup, the North African team was the furthest so far in the round of 16 of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, where they lost to the then NSR. If they advance to the final, they will be able to meet again the Croatians, the reigning vice-world champions.
The Moroccans have nothing to lose and will give it their all in the semifinals. “I don’t think my players have ever run so much in their life before. When you put so much heart into it, it gives you a chance. We have a clear plan: everyone has to work hard. We are showing the world where you can be successful even if you don’t have that much money and talent,” said Moroccan coach Walid Regragui.
“It’s crazy. We’re living our dream and we don’t want to wake up. It’s so incredible that I can’t describe it. We worked it all out, but it’s not over yet. It gives me goosebumps just talking about it.” said midfielder Sofiane Boufal, according to the official website of the International Football Federation (FIFA).
THE FRENCH THINK ABOUT THE ANTICIPATION IN THE FINAL
The French are the first reigning world champions to progress from the group stage to the World Cup since Germany 2006. They have won all six of their round of 16 appearances since the stage was introduced at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.
To date, Les Bleus have appeared in the semi-finals of the World Cup six times and have reached the final exactly half of the time: at the “golden” home World Cup in 1998, four years ago in Russia and in 2006, when they lost against Italians. Bronze in Sweden 1958 and Mexico 1986, fourth in Spain 1982.
“Mister Regragui and his team have done a great job. With all due respect, few expected them to get this far, but now they are. On Wednesday, they will be thinking of one thing and the same thing as us: moving on to the final. It is exactly that what we would expect. We respect them because we have seen what they are capable of and what they have done. We will keep our feet on the ground and prepare as best we can because this game deserves it.” said French skipper Didier Deschamps.
The semi-final between France and Morocco will take place on Wednesday at 20:00 at the Al Bayt stadium in Al Khora, with Mexican César Ramos as the main referee. The winner of the duel will meet in Sunday’s final the best team from Tuesday’s semi-final between Argentina and Croatia.
The match for the 3rd place among the defeated selections is scheduled for Saturday. If the French and Croatians advance, the 2018 World Cup final will be repeated and only the second time in history the same teams will meet in the fight for the title in two consecutive World Cups. So far, this has only happened in Mexico 1986 and Italy 1990 (Argentina vs NSR).
