2022 World Cup – Thursday 15 December 2022
France 2 (1) – (0) 0 Morocco (Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor)
France scorers: Hernandez (5′), Kolo Muani (79′)
France and their fans will be on a high this morning after reaching their second successive World Cup final, the first team to achieve this since Brazil who appeared in three finals on the bounce, 1994, 1998 and 2002. However, they will also be letting out a major sigh of relief as they were pushed all the way by a tenacious and skillful Morocco team.
Despite going a goal down after just five minutes through an acrobatic finish from Theo Hernandez and the early loss of skipper Romain Saiss, who was clearly not fit, and backed by their incredible support, the Atlas Lions gave it their all. They dominated possession and matched the French in terms of attempts on goal yet couldn’t find a way past Lloris and a French defence that remained calm despite the pressure and who sealed their place in the final with a tap-in from Kolo Muani with eleven minutes remaining.
The talk ahead of Sunday’s final will be about Messi and Mbappe, but the star last night was Antoine Griezmann who playing now in a deeper role for his country, was simply outstanding, popping up at the back, winning balls in midfield and getting Les Bleus attacks going. He yet could be the key in the final.
For Morocco this tournament has seen them truly arrive on the World stage, and they will face Croatia in the 3rd/4th place play-off game on Saturday. Ironically the opening game for these two at the group stage, in a game that ended 0-0. They will want to finish on a high and it could mean that its more of a game than the often training ground approach that some teams have adopted down the years.
Finally a note on the referee who I thought let far too much go and should have produced more yellow cards. His approach left players with the ability to commit fouls without fear of a card and disrupted the flow of the game. As much as I enjoyed watching it last night, it brought home how easily players go down these days, looking to win fouls and getting the opposition booked. Who’d be a ref?