After shocking Spain and Portugal, two of its former colonizers, Morocco will face France — which ruled Morocco from 1912 to 1956. It’s a perfect anti-colonial trifecta, surely one of the most compelling narrative twists in World Cup history. https://t.co/C6JqmVtnPj
— Elahe Izadi | الهه (@ElaheIzadi) December 14, 2022
Morocco, by the way, is the only African nation to provide military aid to Ukraine.
— Slava Malamud ???? (@SlavaMalamud) December 10, 2022
SportsMole:
African trailblazers Morocco will endeavour to continue their magical World Cup 2022 journey when they face a monumental test of their mettle against current holders France in Wednesday’s semi-final at the Al Bayt Stadium.
The Atlas Lions stunned Portugal 1-0 to reach the final four, while Les Bleus sent a dogged England side home via a 2-1 scoreline to keep their hopes of back-to-back titles alive, and either Argentina or Croatia will await the victors in the showpiece event.
A missed Harry Kane penalty is a collector’s item in football, and France were the “lucky” recipients – according to Didier Deschamps – of such good fortune, as the reigning champions prevented England from bringing football home in a memorable quarter-final…
Les Bleus failed to win any of their first three World Cup semi-finals, but they have since prevailed on their last three occasions in 1998, 2006 and 2018, and it has been 84 years since a European nation managed to reach the World Cup final as reigning champions – the Italian luminaries of 1934 and 1938 were the most recent to do so.
By conceding to Kane from the spot, France ensured that they would still be without a World Cup 2022 clean sheet ahead of their semi-final with Morocco, who by contrast certainly know a thing or two about keeping opposing players at bay, even with defensive alterations being forced upon them.
No matter what transpires at the Al Bayt Stadium on Wednesday, the current Morocco crop have already cemented their place in national and continental folklore as the first-ever African nation to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup…
Alison Rose
Let’s go, Moroccooooooooo!!!! 🇲🇦🇲🇦🇲🇦
Anyway
Cool to see Hakimi and Mbappe yakking it up while waiting in the tunnel…
*Took the afternoon off to catch the game. Allez!
* Have a ton of vacation days to burn before 31st
Omnes Omnibus
Allez les Bleus!
billcinsd
Theo Hernandez with the goal for le Bleu, not quite a hammer by a guy named Charles
Alison Rose
Well. Not a great start.
billcinsd
@Anyway: They closed my school both yesterday and today, so I’ve been doing well
Barbara
A France-Argentina final would definitely be the most entertaining, I think. I like Morocco (and Croatia) but I confess that I don’t like their style of play against teams with more offensive talent.
Omnes Omnibus
Hernandez!
Omnes Omnibus
@Barbara: It is definitely the result that FIFA and Qatar want. Messi vs Mbappe.
Barbara
@Omnes Omnibus: Well, my money would be on Mbappe, but not by a large margin.
HumboldtBlue
That’s a big early goal, Morocco is going to have to come out of that parked bus defense and that’s gonna make them a little more vulnerable because their defense has been outstanding.
HumboldtBlue
Sheesh, Olivier!
oldster
I was on the fence about who to root for, but then I saw this:
“Morocco, by the way, is the only African nation to provide military aid to Ukraine.”
Now I’m rooting for the Atlas Lions against Macron’s putin-appeasing poodles!!
(Too bad France is already up one….)
Paul in KY
France is like a big Catholic HS in a large city that can recruit football players from all over the Archdiocese. Morocco is like a public HS that can only have the players in their district.
HumboldtBlue
What a save by Lloris!
@Paul in KY:
Oddly enough, half of the Moroccan team were born elsewhere including the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Canada, France and Spain.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I guess I’ll root for Morocco given that historical trifecta.
HumboldtBlue
That’ll do it.
Messi v Mbappe.
billcinsd
Big goal for France off a great move by Mbappe
cope
Merde
Alison Rose
Sad :(
trollhattan
@HumboldtBlue: Seemed if not baked in, the most likely finals matchup by a decent margin. Morocco was not going to beat either, because once they yielded that first opponent’s goal (not the own-goal from earlier in the tournament) the lack of an aggressive offence was going to be their undoing.
It also seemed as though France hit the gas pedal for the England match and is in a different gear.
cope
fin
Alison Rose
Okay, Messi. Time to kick their asses.
cope
These FOX announcers suck. It doesn’t end here for Morocco, there’s the consolation game Saturday.
JML
France is just really really good. Mbappe is the best player on the planet right now, and Griezmann is playing really really smart football running the show for France. they’re so dangerous.
Could be a cracker of a final.
Omnes Omnibus
@Alison Rose: You prefer the Argies?
Anyway
Gonna be a final to watch, fersure. Can’t wait.
Burnspbesq
We knew Griezmann was good, but who could have imagined he would perform at this level? Unless he completely sucks on Sunday he should get the Golden Ball as tournament MVP.