France shattered Morocco’s World Cup dream with a 2-0 win in their semifinal match, setting up a meeting with Lionel Messi’s Argentina on Sunday.
The French side became the sixth nation to play in the finals of two successive World Cups; moreover, France could become the first nation in 60 years to successfully defend a FIFA World Cup title if they win against the Argentines.
Theo Hernandez of AC Milan scored the quickest goal of the knock-out stage in 4 minutes of the second semi-final game of the World Cup at the Al Bayt Stadium last Wednesday night.
Despite a hostile crowd against the French team, they were able to end the first half with a 1-0 lead after goalkeeper Hugo Lloris was forced to make point-blank saves to maintain the one-goal lead against Walid Regragui’s side in the semi-final.
In the second half, Morocco, the first African and Arab team to ever make it to the World Cup’s last four, battled on despite losing several important players to injury, only for replacement Kolo Muani to score a late goal to give Les Bleus the victory.
It will be France’s fourth World Cup final in seven editions when they take on Argentina at Lusail Stadium on Sunday, and Kylian Mbappé will be the youngest player to win the World Cup in two successive tournaments.
Kylian Mbappé, who had scored five goals in the World Cup before their semi-final game with the Atlas Lions of Morocco, was the centre of discussion, together with his teammate at Paris Saint-Germain F.C., Achraf Hakimi.
And after César Arturo Ramos, the Mexican association football referee, blew the final whistle, the two teammates at Paris Saint-Germain, Kylian Mbappé and Achraf Hakimi, were caught on camera exchanging their jerseys.
The Qatar 2022 World Cup top scorer, Kylian Mbappé, tweeted to console his best friend at Paris Saint-Germain. He posted a message on his Twitter handle, @KMbappe.
He tweeted with the caption, “Don’t be sad bro; everybody is proud of what you did; you made history. @AchrafHakimi.”
