FRANCE VS MOROCCO PREVIEW

The surprise package of this World Cup, African trailblazers Morocco will look to achieve what many thought impossible when they face yet another monumental test of their defensive mettle against current holders France in Wednesday's second semi-final at the Al Bayt Stadium, for a place in Sunday's final against Argentina. The Atlas Lions are coming into the game after another underdog victory over Portugal in the quarter-final, while Les Bleus defeated England to keep their hopes of back-to-back titles alive and prevent football coming home.

An Aurelien Tchouameni strike and a close-range header from all time top scorer Oliver Giroud either side of a Harry Kane penalty got the job done for deserved winners France and sealed their place in another World Cup final. Les Blues have now won their last four World Cup semi-finals, in 1998, 2006 and 2018, respectively. It has been 84 years since a European nation managed to reach the World Cup final as reigning champions when 1934 champions Italy repeated the feat in 1938. France are still without a clean sheet in this World Cup ahead of their semi-final with Morocco, who by contrast certainly know how to keep the opposition at bay, even with players missing and defensive alterations being forced upon the squad.

No matter what transpires come the final whistle on Wednesday, this current Moroccan group have already cemented their place in national folklore as the first ever African nation to reach the semi-finals of a World Cup. Despite Portugal smashing six past a hapless Switzerland in their previous fixture, a makeshift Morocco back line defended heroically and tactically brilliantly to keep «A Selecao» at bay, and a Youssef En-Nesyri header was all it took for the Atlas Lions to make history and send their fans into delirium.

Rank outsiders by any stretch of the imagination at the start of the tournament, Morocco have seen off the likes of Belgium, Spain and Portugal on route to the semi-finals, and would now be considered worthy finalists indeed especially taking into consideration they have only conceded a single goal in the tournament so far, with four clean sheets to their name.


In fact, the last two teams to keep five clean sheets in a single World Cup were Italy in 2006 and Spain in 2010, both of whom went on to lift the Jules Rimet trophy. This is a France side who have never suffered defeat to the Atlas Lions in five matches, but there is no chance Walid Regragui's players or their vociferous fanbase will be afraid of Kylian Mbappe and co.

France's all-time leading goalscorer Giroud could become the oldest player in history to score five goals in a single World Cup should he bag this evening, and while Mbappe was kept relatively quiet by England, the French have won all 10 World Cup games in which the 23-year-old PSG starlet has started.

Meanwhile, Morocco and
West Ham United's Aguerd missed the quarter-final but Regragui will pull out all the stops to have him available after Romain Saiss had to be taken off on Saturday due to a hamstring issue.

Star forward Hakim Ziyech is expected to start despite also being forced off over the weekend.

France possible starting lineup: Lloris; Kounde, Varane, Upamecano, T. Hernandez; Tchouameni, Rabiot; Dembele, Griezmann, Mbappe; Giroud

Morocco possible starting lineup: Bono; Hakimi, El Yamiq, Aguerd, Mazraoui; Ounahi, Amrabat, Amallah; Ziyech, En-Nesyri, Boufal