Randal Kolo Muani’s goal 44 seconds after coming off the bench helped France defeat Morocco 2-0 in the semifinals, setting up a World Cup final matchup against Argentina. Theo Hernandez’s acrobatic finish from close range gave the defending champions France the lead after only five minutes, but they had to work hard for their victory. With their win against Morocco, Didier Deschamps’ men became the first side to reach back to back World Cup finals, two decades after Brazil in 2002.
Within five minutes, France put an end to Moroccan aspirations of pulling off another miraculous comeback when Hernandez met a ball that had fallen to him at the back post and volleyed it past Yassine Bounou.
At the conclusion of Aurelien Tchouameni’s ferocious run through the middle in the first half, Olivier Giroud hit the post and missed from close range. Jawad El Yamiq’s daring overhead kick came dangerously close to bringing Morocco even, but Hugo Lloris just managed to palm the ball away from danger as the reigning world champions kept a 1-0 lead.
The North Africans were severely hampered by injuries to their important centre-backs. The risky decision to start Nayef Aguerd did not pay off because he injured his hamstring during the warm-up, and captain Romain Saiss was forced to leave the game after 20 minutes.
After the break, Walid Regragui’s men came out strong and Yahya Attiat-Allah missed a great chance to equalise as they spent a large portion of the first 10 minutes of the second half on France’s defensive end of the field.
Azzedine Ounahi’s speculative shots forced two superb stops out of Lloris, and curling set-pieces put the French defence under strain.
Nevertheless, Morocco were never intimidated and had opportunities to draw level and came agonisingly close as well. El Yamiq even hit the post as they fought bravely despite injuries to key players, including Saiss.
However, France proved their tournament pedigree by defending staunchly and then grabbing their opportunity to end the match when Eintracht Frankfurt striker Muani slipped home Kylian Mbappe’s deflected effort at the far post in the 79th minute, leaving the Moroccans devastated by his first international goal.
On Saturday, the Atlas Lions will face off against Croatia in the third-place play-off
