Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeSportsFrance beat Morocco 2-0, set up the final with Argentina

France beat Morocco 2-0, set up the final with Argentina

Reigning world champions France scored once in each half to overcome a spirited challenge of Morocco on Wednesday night at Al Bayt Stadium to set up a FIFA World Cup final showdown with Argentina on Sunday.

The Les Bleus took the lead through Theo Hernandez’s scrambled fifth-minute goal. Randal Kolo Muani wrapped up matters in the 79th, less than a minute after coming on, after a fine solo from Kylian Mbappe.

France ended the fairytale run of the Atlas Lions in the tournament, with Didier Deschamps’s side bidding to become the first team in 60 years to win back-to-back titles. Only Italy in 1938 and Brazil in 1962 have clinched back-to-back titles.

Also read: Morocco stun Spain reached the quarterfinals

France is the sixth nation to reach successive World Cup finals, the others being Italy (1934, 1938), Brazil (twice: 1958, 1962 and 1994, 1998, 2002), the Netherlands (1974, 1978), West Germany (1982, 1986, 1990) and Argentina (1986, 1990).

Should France win, Didier Deschamps – who was a player when France won their first title in 1998 – will join Italy’s Vittorio Pozzo as the only coach to win two World Cups in a row.

The 1978 and 1986 champions Argentina beat 2018 runners-up Croatia 3-0 in the first semi-final on Tuesday. Lionel Messi now hopes for the trophy in his fifth and final attempt in what will be a giant duel with his Paris Saint-Germain team-mate Mbappe.

France beat Argentina 4-3 in the last 16 en route to the 2018 title, after losing the first two World Cup dates between the two in 1930 and 1978. Morocco and Croatia will play for third place on Saturday.

On Wednesday night Morocco, backed by their legion of supporters, who outnumbered France, was pushed all the way by World Cup wildcards. The scoreline belies their performance and how close the game was.

The first African side to reach a World Cup semi-final refused to buckle despite suffering the early blows of losing key defender Nayef Aguero to injury after he was named in the starting line-up, and then an early goal.

 

 

 

(This story has been sourced from a third-party syndicated feed, agencies. Raavi Media accepts no responsibility or liability for the dependability, trustworthiness, reliability, and data of the text.  Raavi Media management/ythisnews.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content at its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever.)