The fairy tale of Morocco and actually all of Africa lives on. The Lions of the Atlas could be the first African country to win the world title. Although that Morocco started this championship at 200/1 to win the world cup, those odds have changed significantly lately at Thegamepoint non GamStop betting platforms, now Morocco winning odds are +25000, so if you bet on the African lions to win the tournament with $100, and they did, you win $25,100!
In this preview, we look ahead to the game between France and Morocco in the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup.
After Belgium, Croatia and Spain, Portugal also failed to score against the Moroccans. Before the World Cup, few people expected Morocco to make it through the group stage, as the country was seeded with Belgium and Croatia. Nevertheless, Morocco convincingly emerged from group F as the group winner.
After the group stage, Spain waited, which seemed to have deliberately chosen Morocco as an opponent in the eighth final. An error of judgement, it turned out, because Morocco also put the Spaniards aside and qualified for the quarterfinals where Portugal was the opponent. The Portuguese again started the game without Cristiano Ronaldo.
Just before the break, it was not the favourite Portugal that took the lead, but Morocco. Youssef En-Nesyri headed in nicely after a poor performance by the Portuguese goalkeeper. Portugal knew then that it had a difficult task because it was now known that the Moroccans could defend themselves. Since the appointment of national coach Walid Regragui, no opponent has scored against Morocco. The only goal conceded was scored by Nayef Aguerd, a Moroccan defender!
Morocco again showed that it was solid defensively because Portugal was unable to score the equaliser. Although Pepe was still very close with a header in the seventh minute of stoppage time, his header went wide. Morocco’s central defender kissed Pepe’s head after his miss, helping Morocco to become the first African country ever to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup.
In midfield, supercharger Sofyan Amrabat is working on a sensational World Cup. He’s the foundation on which both offence and defence are built, and he’s a strong presence all over the pitch. It, therefore, seems to be a certainty that top clubs will knock on Fiorentina’s door after this World Cup to ask about the availability of the former Eredivisie player. In addition, the team also houses the individual qualities of ball artists such as Boufal, Ziyech, and Hakimi who can decide a match in a fraction of a second.
Goal-rich Encounters
Morocco will face defending champion France in the semifinals. Despite all the injuries within the selection, Les Bleus show that they still have an incredible amount of quality. Their midfield, which was previously labelled as a weak spot, is filled in excellently by Aurélien Tchouaméni, Adrien Rabiot and the excellent playing Antoine Griezmann. The 31-year-old attacker of Atletico Madrid is arguably one of the better players during this tournament and already had three assists.
Of course, the French also have two great finishers up front, because two players from the top three of the top scorers’ list at the World Cup come from France. Kylian Mbappé tops the list with five goals, while 36-year-old Olivier Giroud scored four times. The latter was crowned France’s all-time top scorer this tournament and hopes to conclude his latest trick with a golden boot.
Giroud has to do what no one has yet managed to do and that is to score against Morocco. However, if we look at the history between the two countries, it is hopeful. France and Morocco have met four times before, all friendlies and fifteen goals have been scored in these four encounters:
Bet on France – Morocco
The encounters are of course more than fifteen years ago and Morocco was, of course, not in the form it is now, so we rather expect the same result of 1999. The way of defending Morocco in any case ensures that Kylian Mbappé does not use his speed to the maximum. Although that will probably not stop the PSG star from still creating his chances.
The question when betting on France – Morocco is mainly how long the fairytale of the Moroccans will last. Each time they are the underdog, but still manage to keep going to a point where we believe they can beat anyone.
