How is France doing so far?
Despite suffering a few injuries, Les Bleus looked strong in their bid to defend their title. Kylian Mbappe has been terrorizing defences, scoring five goals so far in the tournament and leading the race for the Golden Boot.
Their only blip was a 1-0 defeat to Tunisia in their last group game – but Didier Deschamps fielded a B team for that game as Les Bleus had already qualified.
They were convincing in their 3-1 last-16 win over Poland and fought back well to beat England 2-1 in their quarter-final.
What does France say?
Head coach Deschamps said after the England match: “We are reaching the semi-finals. We are closer to the final and it was an important achievement tonight and we can believe, but we have an important game on Wednesday.
“In the past, world champions didn’t always do well at the next World Cup and we managed to do that.”
France’s Hugo Lloris warned it could be “difficult to concentrate” amid the stormy atmosphere, so “we have to be focused and very precise”.
Morocco has a large foreign population in its opponent’s country and is expected to have a frenetic atmosphere like Paris and Marseille.
In Doha, however, the French support will be more than 20 to one, and Morocco’s charismatic manager Walid Regragui, who was born in France himself, says that gives his side an advantage. “For me, we have the best fans in the world, maybe with Argentina and Brazil,” Regraghi said.
“Now the world is starting to know what a Moroccan fan is. He is a crazy man, he loves his country and his club. Tomorrow you will have a minimum of more than 20,000 people. He can come to support us and I’m very happy because the World Cup I can give a photo to the fans of Morocco.”
How is Morocco doing so far?
The African side finished top of Group F after beating Belgium and Canada and drawing 0-0 with Croatia. In the round of 16 clash, Morocco celebrates a historic World Cup victory over Spain. They beat Luis Enrique’s side 3-1 on penalties after neither team managed to score in normal time and extra time. They then had a hard-fought 1-0 win over Portugal to become the first African nation to reach the semi-finals.
Morocco benefit from ties that have the atmosphere of a home game due to a wave of support not only from traveling fans but also from the approval of the Arab world, and over 20,000 fans are expected at Al Beit.
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