We will find out who Argentina face in the FIFA World Cup final on Sunday when the second semi-final between the surprise packages Morocco and the reigning champions France take place on Wednesday evening.
Morocco have been tremendous in this tournament so far and have already been further than any African nation has previously been. France are two wins away from being the first time in 60 years to retain this title so this is beautifully set up.
Where to watch
The second semi-final will be shown live and in full on the BBC 1 channel in the UK with the build-up to it beginning at 6.30pm and kick off coming along at 7pm.
France
I think it is fair to say that this France side having been quite as dominant or looked as impressive as the one which won this title four years ago were but we shouldn’t forget that they are carrying a serious amount of injuries. They have taken on each challenge head on and whenever they have been written off they have come out and produced the goods. A number of judges fancied England to dump them out on Saturday but France didn’t read that script.
Apart from winning, the positive for France in that match was that England shut down Kylian Mbappe, the man who everyone said was the main difference maker for France, and the French were still able to win with the rest of the quality they have in attacking areas. The downside is that this defence continues to flatter to deceive and looks like it is ready to concede whenever a team goes at it. It might repel this challenge but whether it holds up in the final remains to be seen.
Morocco
Whatever happens in this semi-final, Morocco are making history by being the first African side to compete at this stage of a World Cup. In one way you could argue that they are free wheeling from here and can play without too much pressure on their shoulders but then on the other hand they are two wins from an incredible World Cup success so that pressure free talk is pretty much nonsense. The fact they have made it this far means they merit respect.
Their win over Portugal in the quarter final will go down in Morocco folklore but it did come at a cost because injuries are beginning to mount up and you just wonder whether they will have the personnel to be able to sit deep and soak up play. It might be that they need to show more of their counterattacking from the front foot but that might not be a bad thing because they have the class in attacking areas to trouble this French back line.
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Team News
Dayot Upamecano and Adrien Rabiot are said to be doubtful for this semi-final after both missed training in the lead up to it. Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate could be a replacement if the former doesn’t rock up good.
Morocco will be without Walid Cheddira for this semi-final as he is suspended after his late red card against Portugal. They also have a number of defensive fitness concerns with Nayef Aguerd, Romain Saiss and Noussair Mazraoui all going to be given as long as possible to prove their fitness.
Betting
The logical thing would be to think that the Morocco fairy tale ends here and if I’m honest I think it does but I thought that in the previous round and by hook or by crook they produced an incredible defensive display to come through. The only problem here is that they are running out of working defensive personnel but they will still have their spirit intact and will give this everything they have. That puts me off taking a fairly large handicap on France, whose only interest will be on winning, although I wouldn’t be completely surprised if they cover.
If Morocco are unable to get some of their key defenders on the park for this match then they might have to take the game to France a little more which could see them more dangerous than they have been. In saying that, they have created a number of great chances on the counter throughout the tournament and if we consider that the weakest part of a fairly weak French defence is their full-backs, the Moroccan attack doesn’t matchup to their opponents too badly with Hakim Ziyech and Sofiane Boufal their best attacking threats. France haven’t kept a clean sheet in the tournament yet anyway and I don’t see Morocco repelling this French attack for 90 minutes so a strong odds against price on both teams to score will do me.
Tips
Back Both teams to score for a 3/10 stake at 2.30 with Paddy Power
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