Africa: France End Morocco's Fairytale Run - and Africa's World Cup Hopes

Office of the President of the United States/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
U.S. President Joe Biden watched the 2022 World Cup match between Morocco and France with Prime Minister Akhannouch of Morocco, front, Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari, middle right.
15 December 2022
Scrolla (Johannesburg)
By Razeen Gutta

Morocco bowed out gracefully as goals from Theo Hernandez and Randal Kolo sent defending champions France marching on into Sunday's final against Argentina after a 2-0 win.

The Atlas Lions made history in qualifying for the last four; and the dream was real as the continent of Africa stood united with the Arab world in cheering their team on.

The performance was one of absolute class once again from Walid Regragui's side -- as Morocco dominated the ball and matched the champions for shots on target.

Didier Deschamps's team were merciless in attack though, and started on the front foot with Hernandez scoring from close range inside just five minutes at the Al Bayt Stadium.

In the final ten minutes, substitute Kolo put the icing on the cake for Les Blues. The Frankfurt forward scored just moments after coming on, marking his first ever International goal at the best possible time.

France are the first side in 20 years to progress to back-to-back finals and will hope to become only the third nation in history to defend their crown.

But standing in their way will be Lionel Messi, as Lusail Stadium counts down to what is sure to be some spectacle come Sunday.

Read the original article on Scrolla.

Tagged:
Copyright © 2022 Scrolla. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.

AllAfrica publishes around 500 reports a day from more than 100 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.

Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. To address comments or complaints, please Contact us.