France to face Argentina at World Cup finale

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Published: 15 Dec. 2022, 15:36

France to face Argentina at World Cup finale

France's Kylian Mbappe hugs Morocco's Achraf Hakimi at the end of the World Cup semifinal match between France and Morocco at the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor, Qatar, on Wednesday. France won 2-0 and will play Argentina in Sunday's final. [AP/YONHAP]

The two finalists of the 2022 Qatar World Cup have been decided: After France defeated Morocco 2-0 in the semifinals Wednesday, Sunday's final World Cup clash will be between the defending champions and Argentina.

With their 2-0 win over Morocco in the semifinals, France is now one step closer to achieving a feat that has not be done in 60 years: successfully defending a World Cup title.

But doing so, of course, will require France to win the final clash that pits French star Kylian Mbappe against Paris Saint-Germain teammate Lionel Messi on Sunday.

On Wednesday, despite Morocco displaying some impressive football skills, Les Bleus were unbeatable, opening the scoring just five minutes into the match.

France's Theo Hernandez, right, celebrates with Olivier Giroud after scoring the opening goal during the World Cup semifinal match between France and Morocco at the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor, Qatar, on Wednesday. [AP/YONHAP]

Theo Hernandez scored the first goal, finding a loose ball in front of the box after Mbappe had tried a shot, driving it in past goalkeeper Yassine Bounou who plays with Bono on his shirt.

That was only the second goal that Morocco has conceded at this year's World Cup and the first time for Morocco to have conceded a goal scored by an opposition player.

On Dec. 2, Morocco conceded an own goal against Canada. Other than that goal, they have been able to keep a clean slate against traditional footballing powerhouses Belgium, Spain and Portugal.

For Hernandez, that goal marks the quickest for him in a World Cup semifinal since Vava scored after two minutes for Brazil against France in 1958.

Against France, Morocco held the ball more in the first half with 57.8 percent but struggled to find a chance.

After conceding the goal, the Atlas Lions made an early 21st minute change, swapping out captain Romain Saiss who had sustained an injury with Selim Amallah taking his place. With Saiss out, the Atlas Lions made a change in formation from a 5-4-1 to a 4-3-3, trying to find a way around their opponents.

Morocco's Jawad El Yamiq shoots at the goal during the World Cup semifinal match between France and Morocco at the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor, Qatar, on Wednesday. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

While Jawad El-Yamiq nearly scored Morocco’s first goal in the 44th minute with an acrobatic bicycle kick, Hugo Lloris punched the ball out and Morocco failed to find the equalizer. The whistle for half time blew with 1-0 on the scoring.

The ball possession rate was still on the Moroccan side in the second half, owning a lion’s share of the ball and marking their highest ball possession rate at the World Cup after only owing 35.3 percent against Croatia, 33.3 percent against Belgium, 41.2 percent against Canada, 23.2 percent against Spain and 26.7 percent against Portugal.

Perhaps the high ball possession rate that reached 60.6 percent in the 65th minute was what kept France down for the 74 minutes after first goal.

But in the 79th minute, Mbappe dribbled his way past the Moroccan defense to shoot. After the ball was blocked, it deflected and was met by Kolo Muani, who had just been substituted into the pitch less than a minute ago, who tapped it in to the back of the net to double their lead. The goal marks Muani’s first international goal and is now the third-quickest goal for a substitute in the history of the World Cup, only behind Morales, who holds the record of scoring 16 seconds after coming on as a substitute in 2002, and Sand, who scored 26 seconds after being substituted in to the pitch at the 1998 World Cup.

After that second goal, there wasn’t enough time for the Atlas Lions to get back into the game, and the whistle blew with 2-0 on the scoring.

While this comes as a heartbreaking loss for Morocco, the Atlas Lions get to go home after writing a new line in history as the first Arab and African team to qualify for a World Cup semifinal.

Morocco became the underdog tale of the 2022 World Cup after beating traditional football powerhouses Belgium, Spain and Portugal.

For No. 22 Morocco, the 2022 World Cup has been an uphill battle from the start as they were drawn in Group F and were the second lowest-ranked nation before No. 2 Belgium, No. 7 Spain and No. 12 Croatia. Canada at No. 41 was the lowest.

Morocco’s best World Cup performance prior to this year was reaching the round of 16 in 1986. But after beating Spain to become the first Arab and fourth African country to make the World Cup quarter-finals, Wednesday’s semifinal was Morocco’s first-ever.

"We are disappointed for the Moroccan people — we wanted to keep their dream alive," Morocco coach Walid Regragui reportedly said after the match on Wednesday. "We felt we could have gone further, but we have given a good image of Morocco and of African football. That was important to us."

As for France, the team on Wednesday became the first reigning champions to reach the World Cup semifinals since Brazil in 1998 and now have their eyes on the biggest prize.

If they win the final against Argentina, it will mark their third after having won in 1998 and 2018.

BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]

korea joongAng daily

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France to face Argentina at World Cup finale

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