France had a World Cup dream dashed as they moved a step closer to finishing as Morocco’s sensational campaign in Qatar came to a painful end at the Albeit Stadium.
In a night of raw emotion and tumult in Al Khor, holders France ended romantic notions of the tournament’s spectacular surprise package, with Morocco going even further to become the first African nation to reach the semi-finals.
Morocco’s flamboyant support, which flooded Doha in their thousands to spray the stadium red, were left in tears but left with pride as France finally showed class and performance, 2-0 at either end of a thrilling contest.
As Morocco’s players, staff and their inspirational coach Walid Regargai gave a long and well-deserved farewell to those fans as their dreams were shattered, so was another for Sunday’s final at Lucille Stadium. An interesting scene unfolded.
Namely France vs. Argentina, and Kylian Mbappe vs. Lionel Messi. The Paris Saint-Germain teammates will be international opponents on the game’s biggest stage.
The 23-year-old Frenchman is on course for his second World Cup winner’s medal while Argentina’s 12-year-old talent has one last crack at the crown, further strengthening his claims to be the greatest to ever play the game.
Mbappe’s status will be further cemented with back-to-back World Cup wins as France aim to become the first nation to retain the trophy, although it is actually now a different piece of silverware, with Brazil winning in Sweden in 1958. 60 years after and four years after Chile.
He was the scorer when France beat Croatia 4-2 in Moscow in 2018 and has the power to add to his tally now and in the future. Pele is the only man to have won three medals. Only 21 men, including Pele, have won more than one. This opens up remarkable possibilities for the French forward.
For Messi, the context is different.
He’s at the end of a career in which he’s won everything the game has to offer except for that single, significant distinction in his honor collection. It’s the biggest World Cup ever, and it hasn’t been since the 2014 final loss to Germany in Rio or now.
This is Messi’s final World Cup game and Sunday is the day that could top them all, providing the perfect ending to his saga with Argentina. Anything else would feel disappointing and hollow for a great sporting icon of his country.
The World Cup final could be one for the ages and on the evidence of what we saw in Qatar, it is too close to call. It may even come down to a moment of genius from the two players most likely to deliver it.
France have worked in two tough knockout matches against England in the quarter-finals and here against Morocco.
They were tested in different ways in both, with England attacking threat and Morocco deftly refusing to buckle under adversity, but coming out the other side victorious.
Despite putting pressure on Morocco, the French provided plenty of consolation here, with their goals coming five minutes later from Theo Hernandez and second substitute Randall Kolo Mevani, just 44 seconds after coming on, the third-fastest goal by a substitute in the world. . Cup history and his first for France.
And for coach Didier Deschamps, Sunday’s final offers a place in history and the chance to add further decorations to his illustrious career.
The 54-year-old, dubbed “The Water Carrier” by France teammate Eric Cantona for his relentless style and ability to win possession for other so-called more glamorous team-mates, captained his country at home until the World Cup. . Soil in 1998
Deschamps is only the fourth coach to lead a nation to back-to-back World Cup finals after Vittorio Pozzo with Italy in 1934 and 1938, Carlos Bilardo with Argentina in 1986 and 1990 and Franz Beckenbauer with Germany in 1986 and 1990. are Only second to Pozo to win it twice.
Despite losing Ballon d’Or-winning striker Karim Benzema, he has carried on with business as usual by the time France landed in Qatar, with 36-year-old Olivier Giroud stepping into the breach.
Even so, at this pressure point of the World Cup, he lost Adrien Rabiot and Davit Apamacano to illness, the latter replaced by Liverpool’s Ibrahim Konate to give Deschamps a delicious selection problem on Sunday. can present
And so the World Cup comes down to it.
France vs Argentina. In the eyes of many, Mbappe vs. Messi.
This is the World Cup final that many predicted and the personal showdown between the two greats that many craved.
