Post Match: France end the Moroccan dream in an intense match in Doha

On Wednesday the 14th of December, Theo Hernandez and Kolo Mauni p

ut an end to what seemed like a fairy-tale, as they provided the goals that eliminated Morocco from the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

Morocco’s defence was breached very early on, as Varane played a cutting pass to Griezmann to open things up. Griezmann played the ball back, and 2 deflected shots from Mbappe saw the ball fall kindly to Theo Hernandez at the back post, who smashed it home, sending the message that this semi-final wouldn’t be a fairy tale.

Manager Walid Regragui told reporters, “We showed desire, played hard, and have given a good image of Morocco and of African football. We were representing our country and our continent. People already respected us but I think they respect us more now.”

Morocco suffered multiple injuries during the match. Usual starter Nayef Aguerd was ruled out before the match, and it became evident that captain Romain Saiss could not continue after his lack of fitness gave Giroud a golden chance to put the game to bed within 25 minutes, a chance that he lashed against the post.

Morocco fought valiantly. Ziyech was played in in the 17th minute, but he scuffed his shot, and France were let off. It was an uncharacteristic miss for Morocco’s main attacking threat. But as the cliché goes, sometimes it’s just not your night.

France seemed to want to ride their luck and hit Morocco on the break. Maybe this wasn’t the swashbuckling brand of football many expect from a team with as much talent as Le Blues, but it’s a tactic that worked, and that’s all you can ask for in a World Cup semi-final.

Deschamps told GFFN, “There’s emotion, there’s pride. Once again, it was an important step. There’s still another one to go. We’ve been with the players for a month, it’s never easy, but it’s been a pleasure up to now.”

Despite battling performances from Amrabat, Hakimi, Ziyech and others, their efforts were undone via a moment of dribbling magic from Kylian Mbappe. His deflected shot in the 80th minute sneaked through the Moroccan backline, allowing the freshly substituted Kolo Mauni to poke home the goals that ended the dream.

Morocco fans showed up in droves, and if you went by atmosphere alone, you would think that France were an away team. The Moroccan fans also gave their team a standing ovation in the final moments before the whistle went. They were so very proud of their team, as they signalled that African football was on the rise and could no longer be ignored.

2 moments of history were cemented on that day. Morocco became the first African side to reach a World Cup semi-final, and France become the first team to reach back-to-back World Cup finals since Brazil 20 years ago. They will face Argentina on Sunday the 18th, in what promises to be an instant classic