From a document seven wins within the crew degree to having a workforce within the semi-finals for the primary time, this has been the match for Africa. With their moms in palms – Sofiane Boufal dancing together with his mum after beating Portugal might be the match’s defining body beating Walid Regragui mountaineering the terraces to satisfy him – Morocco have marched into unknown territory announcing they’re hungry for extra.
“If you are not that is a problem, not everyone is lucky enough to come this far,” mentioned Morocco’s trainer after stating that the “best team, Brazil” didn’t. “I’m in the semi-final of the World Cup. I had dreamed of it as a little boy,” said Ilias Chair. That he hasn’t got a minute’s action in Doha didn’t matter, the midfielder said on Tuesday.
For Morocco’s dream to continue, Regragui said, there will have to be more sacrifices, organization and focus. There will be more of the defence-heavy style they have brought to this World Cup because Regragui spoke about sticking to what has worked. From target man Youssef En-Nesyri to Yassine Bounou in goal, Morocco are going to stick together making it as difficult as possible for France to break through. And the try their luck on the counter with their ball-carrying midfielders.
England showed that it is possible to contain Kylian Mbappe by not changing his game. They played four at the back though with Kyle Walker in a more central defensive position than wing back and restricted Mbappe to the fewest touches he got inside the penalty area (3), since the last World Cup final. Mbappe did beat Walker in a sprint but it led to nothing. With Morocco leaving little space between their frontman and Bounou, with Hakim Ziyech and Boufal combining responsibilities of flying down the flanks and dropping deep to aid the backline, it could mean another difficult night for Mbappe but he can and does change games in a flash.
How France find space between the lines will depend on the kind of game Antoine Griezmann is having. Numbers don’t always tell the tale – and Regragui warned against too much importance to xG (Expected Goals) and a lot of possession saying they mean nothing if you don’t win – but Griezmann has had an excellent World Cup. He hasn’t added to his tally of 42 international goals which puts Griezmann behind only Olivier Giroud and Thierry Henry. He has not scored in 14 international games since the World Cup qualifier against Kazakhstan in November 2021. But his importance can be gauged from the fact that he has started each of France’s last 72 games.
In 2018, Griezmann had four goals and four assists. In five World Cup games, having played almost every minute except against Tunisia when Didier Deschamps rested a number of starters, Griezmann has two assists, both against England. After the quarter-final, no one, not even Zinedine Zidane or Henry, has more for France than his 28. “The ball from Grizi was superb,” Giroud said while describing his goal that knocked England out.
Beset by injuries, France have reorganized their midfield with Griezmann, in his words, “being there in the relationship between defense and forwards.” Unlike in Brazil when Deschamps was building a team that would conquer the world in four years, Griezmann doesn’t play on the left. Unlike in Russia, he doesn’t play further up the pitch either. Because Paul Pogba and N’ Golo Kante and Christopher Nkunku are not here, he plays in a central role linking up more with Aurelien Tchouameni and Adrien Rabiot than he would four years earlier. Griezmann still has the legs to help the defense and rush forward to join an attack. And he was always a player who didn’t shirk defensive responsibilities. He is also France’s set-piece master.
“We need him to be just as good as tomorrow. He can change a team. He is a hard worker and technically qualified,” said Deschamps one day before the semi-final. “He is always thinking of the good for the team.”
Griezmann is amongst the ones Raphael Varane has referred to as a “historical soldier”, person who is aware of what it takes to win a World Cup. Mbappe, Hugo Lloris, Olivier Giroud and he being the others, in keeping with Varane. Players who transmit calm and composure to the workforce when wanted.
Bounou does that for Morocco. There is numerous France at the different aspect too – Regragui has grown up in a Paris suburb and spoke of the enjoyment those that cling French and Moroccan nationalities will derive from the semi-final – however like Griezmann, Bounou performs in La Liga. Winner of the Ricardo Zamora Trophy, given to the most productive goalkeeper in La Liga, the Sevilla keeper typifies ‘niyyah’, the polyglot Regragui who prefer an Arab phrase to explain his workforce’s intent, however does it with a grin.
He smiled after saving a past due effort from Cristiano Ronaldo within the quarter-final and he did that when tipping over a rasping Joao Felix’s power. Everything Portugal threw at him – and it used to be so much – Bounou repelled with a grin. “When Yassine makes that kind of save (against Ronaldo) and gets into the game, we’re virtually unstoppable,” Regragui mentioned after the tournament.
As he did in opposition to Spain, within the tie-breaker and sooner than. “I wouldn’t change anything,” Spain trainer Luis Enrique mentioned concerning the consequences which knocked out Spain. “Just their goalkeeper.”
No workforce has been in a position to breach Bounou’s cage; the one target Morocco have let in used to be an own-goal in opposition to Canada. “When you have one of the best goalkeepers in the world, it gives you confidence, and Yassine gives us that.”
Bounou has been singularly self-effacing in such moments. “I wish to thank the entire guys for the arduous paintings. I used to be MVP as a result of there are giant gamers with me, this is because my pals had been at a prime stage and did their jobs,” he mentioned after amassing his 2nd successive player-of-the-match award.
Football is at its best possible when the price of the collective is bigger than the sum of its person portions. Griezmann and Bounou, each 31, typify that. What’s to not say that each can be smiling after a difficult, honest duel.