France secured a well-deserved 2-0 victory over a Morocco in Wednesday’s Fifa World Cup semi-final encounter at Al Bayt Stadium in Qatar.
The Blues came into this encounter as the favourites and they showed their quality when Theo Hernandez broke the deadlock with a sensational acrobatic strike to hand his side a 1-0 lead in the fourth minute.
The Atlas Lions had a few chances, but they couldn’t beat Hugo Lloris in the France goal as the Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper produced fine saves to keep Hakim Ziyech’s teammates at bay.
The 2-0 win for the defending champions was sealed by substitute Randal Kolo Muani who beat keeper Yassine Bounou in the 79th minute – scoring with his first touch to end the Moroccans’ hopes of winning the game in the process.
The world-class attacker came into this match in good form having scored five goals in this tournament.
However, his PSG teammate Achraf Hakimi and the Moroccan defence were able to contain Mbappe who is among the favourites to win the World Cup Golden Ball.
Mbappe has now failed to score in his last two matches in Qatar.
The win sees the Blues progress to the final as they look to become the first team successfully retain the World Cup title since Brazil did so when they won the trophy in 1954 and 1958.
While Morocco’s hopes of becoming the first African team to reach the final of this prestigious tournament ended following the narrow win to the Blues.
However, the Atlas Lions will leave Qatar with their heads held up high having made history by becoming the first African team to reach the semi-finals.
The Blues will now go head to head with Lionel Messi’s Argentina in Sunday’s final at Lusail Stadium in Lusail.
On the other hand, Morocco are set to face off with Croatia in the third-place playoff encounter at Khalifa International Stadium in Al Rayyan.