Morocco’s dream of becoming World Champions is over as the reigning champions France seek to become the first side to win back-to-back World Cups since Brazil in 1962.
Two of the pretournament favourites are set to square off in the final of the 2022 Fifa World Cup. France defeated Morocco 2-0 on Wednesday to set up a thrilling World Cup final against Messi’s Argentina.
Argentina advanced after beating Croatia 3-0 on Tuesday in the other semi-final. This will be second final for both teams in recent memory, with Argentina losing to Germany in 2014 and France beating Croatia in the final in 2018.
Both nations have won two World Cups before, so none of them will get their third star above their crest after Sunday’s final.
Morocco, the first African side in history to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup following historic wins over Spain and Portugal, were roared on by another partisan crowd at Al Bayt Stadium and subjected France to heavy pressure, with Jawad El Yamiq striking the post as they tried to fight back after trailing in the first half.
Theo Hernandez put the French in front after scoring in the fifth minute of the game, leaving the Moroccans rattled as they had to search for the equalizer. Moroccans pushed and applied pressure on the defending champions throughout the first half.
France though, showed their tournament pedigree, defending resolutely then seizing their chance to kill the game when Kolo Muani slid home Kylian Mbappe’s defected effort at the far post in the 79th minute, scoring his first international goal which left Moroccans heart broken.
Morocco were the darlings of the tournament and can still finish third if they beat Croatia in the third spot contest.
Source: Al Jazeera, CBS Sport, SKY Sport, Los Angeles Times, image from Twitter: @FabrizioRomano