No sooner did France end one feel-good story at the World Cup than it set its sights on another.
The defending champions showed not an ounce of sentimentality Wednesday, beating Morocco 2-0 on goals from Theo Hernandez and Randal Kolo Muani. Next up is a meeting in Sunday’s final against Argentina and Lionel Messi, whose glittering résumé is only missing a World Cup title.
“Any team with Messi is a totally different proposition,” forward Antoine Griezmann said. “We’ve seen Argentina play, we know how they play. They’re a difficult team to play and they’re a team in top form. It’s not only Messi, they have a (good) team around him.”
But, Griezmann added with a smile, “We’ll be well-prepared.”
France is the first defending champion to reach the final since Brazil in 1998. Les Bleus will try and avoid the fate of Ronaldo and Co. that year – they lost to France – and instead duplicate the feat of another Brazilian team, the 1962 squad that is the last to repeat as champions.
“We all know we have a chance now of defending our title in the final on Sunday,” coach Didier Deschamps said. “That’s a great achievement already, but we’re going to do everything we can to ensure we’re even happier on Sunday evening.”
Even if that means they have to trample on a fairy tale or two.
Morocco is the first African and Arab nation to reach a World Cup semifinal, and the Atlas Lions have become the tournament’s darling along the way. Their fans have filled stadiums across Doha and its outskirts – only Argentina traveled stronger – and the Souq Waqif has looked like Casablanca or Marrakesh for all the Morocco flags and jerseys there.
The players celebrate their victories by tossing coach Walid Regragui into the air and dancing with their mothers.
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Morocco was more than a plucky underdog, though. It came into the game having conceded just one goal, and an own goal at that, and it knocked off Belgium, Spain and Portugal to reach the semifinals.
“We pulled out all of the stops and gave everything on the pitch,” Regragui said. “We did cause them problems and that’s already an achievement. At a World Cup, this was perhaps one step too far. Not in terms of our quality or tactics, but physically. We had too many players at 60, 70%.”
Still, Morocco gave France every bit it could handle.
It looked early as if Les Bleus might cruise into the final as Argentina did over Croatia. In the fifth minute, Griezmann dribbled up the right side and into the box and, not seeing any opening, crossed to Kylian Mbappe in front of the goal. Mbappe got swallowed up by several defenders, and they were able to clear the ball out.
But it fell to Hernandez, who extended his left leg high in the air and connected on a volley. The angle was perfect, the ball going down rather than up and over the crossbar, and goalkeeper Yassine Bounou had no chance at it.
If anyone thought Morocco would break, however, they haven’t watched much of the Atlas Lions this tournament.
For much of the rest of the game, France had to hang on as Morocco created chance after chance. Jawad El-Yamiq nearly had the goal of the tournament in the 44th with a bicycle kick that hit Hugo Lloris’ glove and then the post, and Sofyan Amrabat and Yahya Attiat-Allah both missed early in the second half.
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But Les Bleus finally gave themselves some breathing room in the 79th thanks to the brilliance of Mbappe.
Mbappe did countrywoman Perrine Laffont, the 2018 Olympic gold medalist in women’s moguls, proud as he slalomed his way through a knot of defenders in the box. His shot was deflected, but all that did was put it in the path of Kolo Muani, who was near the goal.
With his first touch of the game – he’d come on just seconds earlier – Kolo Muani tapped the ball past Bounou to give France an insurmountable lead.
“We wanted to try and score to make them doubt,” Regragui said. “But unfortunately you pay for any mistakes you make, and we did with the second goal.”
All that was left was for France to run out the clock on one team’s dream – and look forward to spoiling that of another.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on Twitter @nrarmour
