The defending champions France and the tournament’s wonder team, Morocco, squared off in the second semifinal of the FIFA 2022 World Cup at the Al-Bayt Stadium. France prevailed over the tenacious Morocco team to advance to the championship game against Argentina. Morocco has had an outstanding tournament, defeating heavyweights Belgium, Spain, and Portugal their route to the semifinals.
The 2018 world champions, France, faced a serious danger going into the semifinals from Morocco, particularly from goalkeeper Yassine Bounou. France defeated Morocco 2-0 in a thrilling contest thanks to goals from Kolo Muani and Hernandez.
Antoine Griezmann’s run down the right flank and Kylian Mbappe’s exquisite cross into the box sparked a sweeping play that Theo Hernandez finished off with a bouncing ball just five minutes into the first half, giving France a much-needed early lead. Towards the end of the first half, Morocco did appear to fight back, but their attempts were denied by a strong and well-organized French defensem;pp line that prevented any Moroccan shots on goal. France had a 1-0 advantage at the end of the first half.
Ziyech and Ounahi continued to collaborate during the first 15 minutes of the second half as Morocco continued to control the ball and attempted to create many scoring opportunities. Griezmann, Konate, and Varane, who made up the French back line, did a good job of thwarting their attempts.
Thuram replaced one of the tournament’s top goal scorers, Giroud, in the 70th minute. With four goals in the competition thus far, he was a menace for the Moroccans. He nearly got his fifth goal tonight, but he wasted a chance earlier in the first half.
79 minutes into the game, when Morocco did almost tie the score, Mbappe attempted to score the second goal for France with a close-range shot. However, the ball deflected off a player in the danger zone and fell directly to Randal Kolo Muani, who slammed it into the goal just in time to help France extend its lead. Muani quickly displayed genius by making the most of a poor shot on goal!
In the end, Kylian Mbappe’s team simply outclassed the brave and high-spirited Moroccan team, and the referee called time on the game. This gave France a resounding victory and advanced them to their second consecutive world cup final, where they will now face Argentina in an attempt to defend their title.
While France entered the game as the clear favorite because they had won the competition, Achraf Hakimi and Morocco have outperformed all expectations in this tournament. But as the stars had it, the reigning champions were able to put an end to Morocco’s unbeaten streak at the most prestigious football competition thanks to goals from Theo Hernandez and Randal Kolo Muani in the first five minutes of play and the 79th. France won with a controlled score of 2-0!
They will now compete against Argentina in Sunday’s championship game. Keep checking H3bet for all the latest news and information from the FIFA 2022 World Cup final matches!