Izuchukwu Okosi
Defending champions France beat Morocco 2-0 at the Al Bayt Stadium in Doha Wednesday night to reach the final of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, where they will face Argentina at the Lusail Stadium.
Prime Business Africa reports that France thus became the first country to be presented the chance of defending their world title in over 20 years years.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThe French went ahead early in the 5th minute through left back Theo Hernandez who held his composure from close range to beat Yaccine Bounou.
France cut Morocco open down the inside-right channel as Varane released Griezmann.
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The Atletico Madrid star found Mbappe, who saw his efforts blocked.
However, the rebound from his second effort fell kindly for Hernandez to score with a fine acrobatic finish.
Both sides had chances to score after the France opener with Morocco’s Jawad El-yawiq the closest when his acrobatic effort came off Lea Bleus post.
Youssef En-Neysri and Sofiane Boufal came off in the last quarter of the game while Marcus Thuram, son of France legend of Malian origin, Lilian Thuram, was introduced by Didier Deschamps for France on the opposite side which conceivably saw Thuram effecting play positively for the current champions while Morocco seemed to take their feet of the pedal attacking wise.
Eintracht Frankfurt striker Kolo Muani scored his first international goal with his first touch in the game after replacing an ineffectual Ousmane Dembele to send France back to the World Cup final after a fantastic work by Mbappe whose shot rebounded kindly to the France number 12.
The game ended 2-0 and it was confirmed: Argentina versus France will be the final of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Morocco will settle for the third place match on Saturday evening against Croatia who lost to Argentina in Tuesday’s semifinal fixture.
The third place classification match and the final will both kick off 8 p.m. Nigerian time respectively.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
