Knockout signatory
Battle records
Promotion process
France
Morocco
Preview of the game
In the second semi-final, the defending team "Gallic Roosters" France played Morocco the "Atlas Lions" of this year's super amazing team. The two teams have met 11 times in the past, with France having an overall advantage of 7 wins, 3 draws and 1 defeat, but when you look at this tournament, you should know that these figures are for reference only. France are the most ferocious attacking firepower of all teams, accumulating 11 goals so far, and the main attacking players Kylian Mbappe and Olivier Giroud each rank in the top two of the Golden Boot with 5 goals and 4 goals each. Morocco, on the other hand, is the best defensive team, they have only dropped one goal before the game, and this ball is still self-propelling, that is, no team can break the door of Morocco yet, this strongest "contradiction showdown" must be wonderful.
As the defending team of the last edition, France has not been paid much attention to this tournament, and the biggest reason is, of course, the absolute main force that many fans are familiar with, such as Benzema, Pogba, Kante and others have missed the competition due to injury, not to mention the main defender Lucas Hernandez withdrew from the game because of a ruptured cruciate ligament. In the face of such a dilemma, France coach Deschamps was forced to use many "second choices" and young players, but judging from the current results, it can be said that it has achieved miraculous results. In addition to losing in the group stage against Tunisia in a large number of rotations, France showed dominance in the rest of the matches, and when it came to the knockout stage, France took the team's output to another level.
In the round of 16 against Poland, France basically completely pressed Poland to play, Mbappe scored twice in this game, and both goals were very difficult "world wave" level. The quarter-final match against England, one of the favourites for the title, is the most difficult trial for France since this tournament, England relied on the outstanding individual ability of the formation and players, successfully suppressed Mbappe and another winger Osman Dembele, the two could hardly bring any contribution to France, but in this dilemma, the rest of the French players successfully stepped forward, the midfielder's immobile main player, the 22-year-old Real Madrid youngster Chuameni, scored the first goal for France with an ultra-long-range world wave, and the key winning goal. It was originally thought that the outside world would fade out of the national team, but because of Benzema's injury, Olivier Giroud attacked him, and more blossoms are the most terrifying places in France.
And the defensive line, which was originally regarded as a hidden worry by the outside world, after several games of trials, whether it is Jule Comte who plays right-back, or Rabiot, who shoulders the responsibility of sweeping the "back plus left", is very good, it can be seen that at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, France has gradually adjusted in place.
Morocco was undoubtedly the big surprise of this tournament, becoming the African team to reach the last four for the first time. At the beginning, the outside world would use words such as "upset" and "accident" to describe Moroccan football, but after a few games, Morocco's super fighting power and willpower, no one dares to underestimate them. Moroccan coach Walid Regraj only took office three months before the World Cup, but he was able to quickly integrate the national team with diverse backgrounds, and even Hakim Ziyeh, who had originally announced his "retirement" from the national team, was happy to return to his position, which shows how much Walid Regraj is supported by the players. As mentioned earlier, Morocco is the team that has conceded the fewest goals in this tournament, relying on the dizzying rotation defense under the fusion of "4-1-4-1" and "5-4-1", which is not a static full retreat, but will be adjusted according to the opponent's style.
In the round of 16 against Spain, although the possession was ceded, the "supplementary defense" mechanism led by midfielder Amrabat allowed Morocco to always block Spain's forward space, and the tacit understanding and concentration between each player could be said to be no mistake at all. In the quarter-finals against Portugal, in addition to the joint defense that he was good at, he would alternately use a fairly high pressing "attack", so that Portugal's central midfield was overwhelmed and could not operate smoothly, which was also a key for Morocco to get a counter-attack goal. However, in the final four, France's standard is obviously one level higher than Spain and Portugal, Morocco still has to face the suspicion that the main central defender in the squad, Roman Seis, may be out due to injury, and the strong defense of the past five games has caused a lot of hidden worries, it depends on whether Walid Regraghi can use magic again and drive another solid team defense. On the other hand, Morocco's relatively weak attacking firepower, whether it can defeat the obviously more capable French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris this time will also be another factor that determines the relationship between victory and defeat.
Overall, the defending team France will still have more advantages, after all, several superstars on the field have the ability to change the game on their own, in addition, if it is really limited by the Moroccan defense, because the French army is wide, there are several players with different styles on the bench, as long as the head coach Deschamps can change the formation in time and find a breakthrough, it should still be within the range that can be handled, of course, it is still necessary to avoid the game being dragged into extra time and even the penalty shootout to increase the variables, France will have a higher chance of winning. There is not much pressure on the Moroccan side, after all, it has been "not favored" all the way, just need to continue to amplify their advantages, do a good job of defending and waiting for opportunities, and then hope that including Hakim Ziyech and Ashraf Hakimi can achieve effective attacks, and maybe there may be another Moroccan miracle again, but the probability may not be high.
Focus star
Mbappe
Age: 24
Played for: Paris Saint-Germain (Ligue 1)/France
Height/weight: 178 cm/73kg
Number of international appearances: 64
International goals: 33
Mbappe is in full swing, even the French president has persuaded the "French treasure" to stay at Paris Saint-Germain and not join Real Madrid, and Mbappe has also shown the frame of Messi, Ronaldo's successor, so far a total of five goals in the Golden Boot ranking first, remember that he has scored 9 World Cup goals at the age of 23, just one goal away from Thomas Müller, who has scored the most World Cup goals in the current game, and it is just around the corner to break the record.
Griezmann
Age: 31
Team: Atletico Madrid (La Liga)/France
Height/weight: 176cm/67kg
Number of international appearances: 115
International goals: 42
In this World Cup, Griezmann is still the main starter that coach Deschamps believes in the most, as he gets older, Deschamps will remove Griezmann's position and play in the attacking midfield is still quite good, so far, although he has not opened the number of goals, but has provided as many as 3 assists, and the winning goal against England in the quarter-finals was Griezmann's perfect cross on the left to assist Giroud's header, so do you say he can not be liked by Deschamps?
Hugo Loris
Age: 35
Team: Tottenham Hotspur (Premier League)/France
Height/weight: 188cm/82kg
Number of international appearances: 143
International goals conceded: 117
So far, Hugo Loris has conceded one goal in each of his four World Cup matches, but that's all, France can win the game by scoring one more goal than their opponents.
Hakim Ziyeh
Age: 29
Team: Chelsea (Premier League)/Morocco
Height/weight: 181cm/67kg
Number of international appearances: 48
International goals: 19
Born in the Netherlands, Hakim Ziyech, parents are Moroccan immigrants, lost his father and mother since childhood, he was a bad boy in the eyes of adults when he was rebellious in his youth, but he was very talented in football and quickly got on track, and at the age of 23, he joined the most famous team in the country, Ajax, won a Eredivisie title in four years of the team, and his outstanding performance in the Champions League also made Premier League giants Chelsea win the Champions League with 40 million euros.
In the national team, he originally played for the Dutch youth team, but due to the lack of sense of immigration status, Hakim Ziyech later chose Morocco as his belonging, but Hakim Ziyech was frozen in 2021 because of his disagreement with then coach Halihodzic, but returned to the national team at the invitation of current coach Walid Regragi and became the absolute core of the team's attack, his dribbling skills are perfect, and he has the ability to shoot world waves from distance outside the box, in addition to set-pieces is also his strength. All this is quite in line with Morocco's style of play, and the performance of one goal and one assist so far this time has proved that he is the biggest threat to the team's attack.
Amrabat
Age: 26
Team: Fiorentina (Serie A)/Morocco
Height/weight: 184cm/70kg
Number of international appearances: 44
International goals: 0
Amrabat, also a Moroccan descendant born in the Netherlands, grew up in Utrecht's youth academy in the early years, and then joined Feyenoord, Brugge in Belgium, and then on loan to Verona in Serie A, and was snatched by "Purple Lily" Fiorentina for 19 million after performing well. Amrabat has a strong body, undying physical strength, every place on the field is where he runs, the coverage is very large, and the opponent's attack is excellent, can successfully intercept with physical jams, his defensive advantages are well under the defensive counterattack tactics of current coach Walid Regragi, and also make him instructible wall in this "Atlas lion", blocking waves of attacks in the first line of defense into nothingness. Amrabat's defensive perfection in midfield has attracted the attention of European giants, helping the national team to reach the final four in history, and also helping him to go further to the European giants in the future.
Ashraf Hakimi
Age: 24 years old
Team: Paris Saint-Germain (Ligue 1)/Morocco
Height/weight: 181cm/73kg
Number of international appearances: 59
International goals conceded: 8
Ashraf Hakimi, a Moroccan descent born in Madrid, Spain, joined Real Madrid's youth academy from an early age, and is regarded as a future star to focus on. Ashraf Hakimi was pulled into the first team as a substitute at the age of 19, but the team's right-back has always been dominated by his brother Daniel Carvajal, so Real Madrid loaned Ashraf Hakimi to the Bundesliga star factory Dortmund, Ashraf Hakimi immediately became Dortmund's main right-back and shined, and then transferred to Inter Milan in Serie A in the 2020/21 season and immediately won the Serie A title. However, due to Inter's poor financial situation, they had to endure the pain and sold it to Paris Saint-Germain for a high price of 60 million euros the following year.
Ashraf Hakimi plays as a right-back, but not the traditional way of playing, he is amazingly fast, physically strong, can dribble the ball into the enemy penalty area to score goals, has a high attacking talent, and occasionally moves forward to play the winger position, so he is coveted by the giants. In the national team, Ashraf Hakimi is more relied on as the core of the counterattack in attack, and it is often seen that the front court gives way to the side corridor to let Ashraf Hakimi run freely, and this World Cup will not be so wantonly pressed for assists under the tactics of coach Walid Regraj, and the attack and defense are more balanced, which also makes him improve a lot in the club's shortcomings of "strong attack and weak defense".
Critical injuries
France: Lucas Hernandez is injured.
Morocco: Agard, Roman Sess, Mazraoui injured; Shedila is suspended.