Holders France cruised to the Fifa World Cup finals after defeating the World Cup’s wonder squad, Moroccan valiants for two goals in the semi-final last day.
France became the first defending champions to reach successive finals since Brazil in 2002. They will now bid to follow Brazil (1962) and Italy (1938) as only the third team to retain the title.
The credit goes to the coach, Didier Deschamps, who molded the team despite the absence of major players from the tournament start.
Morocco, on the other hand, had a marvelous journey from the group stage to the semi-final, knocking Spain in the pre-quarter and Portugal out of the quarter-final. Walid Regragui’s side held a record of zero opposition goal conceding until meeting with France.
Anyhow, they could relive themselves as the first African nation to enter the semifinals and they still stand a chance to bag the third position in this World Cup with the loser’s match against Croatia.
The late-night clash threw the adrenaline up, as Morocco, had nothing to lose, and France had to defend the title to the end. The game turned a drastic turn when Theo Hernandez scored an acrobatic goal in the opening minutes. The attack led by Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann left the ball open to the rushing Hernandez, to score from that tight angle.
The game twisted to be on the edge with more lethal attacks from Morocco while they possessed the majority of the game (62%) and completed 572 passes. They lacked a proper finisher to shake the French net as they unleashed the attacks.
But the substitution, Kolo Muani came before seconds and scored his first international goal in the 79th minute.
However, the game was thrilled to bits as Morocco showed a miraculous performance against the top rankers. And the fans are delighted to assist their nation in the fantasy of their football history, thanking the players and especially their coach, Walid Regragui.