Our prediction for this World Cup 2026 match:
All eyes will be on Al Bayt Stadium when France and Morocco go head to head in the 2022 World Cup semis. Les Tricolores proved their worth in a 2-1 win over England, with Olivier Giroud scoring his fourth goal of the tournament, and the bookies see them as hot favourites to beat Morocco as well. A man to watch in Didier Deschamps’ team will be Kylian Mbappe, who is leading the goalscoring chart, while both Karim Benzema and Lucas Hernandez remain in the recovery room.
The African side, on the other hand, set up a meeting with France by beating Spain and Portugal. Morocco have become the first African team to reach the World Cup semis, but France will pose a much bigger threat for the Atlas Lions than their previous rivals. Walid Cheddira is banned for the match, while all Hakim Ziyech, Abdelhamid Sabiri, Naif Aguerd, Romain Saiss, and Noussair Mazraoui are major doubts.
Highlighted Player (Kylian Mbappé):
Kylian Mbappe is a French footballer who plays for Paris Saint-Germain as a forward. The French rising star began his youth career at AS Bondy and in 2013 he moved to AS Monaco. After making 12 appearances for Monaco B, Kylian Mbappe made his debut for the senior team in 2015. Mbappe quickly established himself as a regular goalscorer, with the teenager finding the net 15 times in 29 appearances in the Ligue 1 in the 2016/2017 season.
In 2017 he moved to fellow French club PSG on loan, with the option of making the deal permanent. Kylian Mbappe scored 13 goals in 27 appearances for les Parisiens in the 2017/2018 and it has to be noted that Unai Emery’s troops eventually won the national championship.
Speaking of his international career, Mbappe played an important role for France at the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals, with the pacey rising star scoring a brace in a thrilling 4-3 win over Argentina in the last 16 of the showpiece tournament. The PSG attacker was born in Paris on December 20, 1998.
Highlighted Team (Morocco):
Morocco, the Atlas Lions, are the first African team to win a group at the World Cup finals. Back in 1986 the team managed to finish the group stages above Portugal, Poland and England, but West Germany proved to be a big catch for the Moroccan national team in the last 16 of the tournament.
The Atlas Lions participated at the World Cup finals on four occasions, but winning of the 1976 African Cup of Nations is considered the team’s biggest success. Morocco were producing outstanding displays at the tournament in Ethiopia and it has to be noted that they defeated Guinea in the title game.
Morocco play their home games at Stade Adrar and Stade de Marrakech and they wear red shirts and green shorts when playing in front of home fans. A number of top-class footballers played for Morocco in the past, but Mustafa Hadji is certainly the biggest star who played for the Moroccan national team.