Africa will be represented in the FIFA World Cup semifinals for the first time in tournament history when Morocco hits the pitch Wednesday to face the defending champions, France. The Atlas Lions punched their ticket to soccer’s final four with a stunning 1-0 upset victory over Portugal in quarterfinal action, extending their unbeaten streak across all competitions to 10 matches. France returns to the semifinals for the sixth time in nine tournament appearances after eking out a hard-fought 2-1 win over England on Saturday afternoon.
France Vs Morocco Opening Odds
France has held steady since opening as a lofty -185 favorite. However, despite the champs’ impressive performance at Qatar 2022, Morocco has made slight gains, improving to +600 underdogs since opening as a +625 bet. The odds of Wednesday’s contest ending in a draw after 90 minutes have shortened to +305 after opening at +305, while the total is unchanged at 2.25.
Wednesday afternoon’s matchup marks the fifth all-time meeting between these teams and their first in non-friendly competition. France has won two of the past three clashes, settling for a draw in their most recent meeting in a 2007 friendly at Stade de France, and has outscored Morocco 8-3 over that stretch. And while this is Morocco’s first trip to the semifinals, the French are undefeated in their past three appearances.
Giroud Bolstering French Offense
France was fortunate to survive its quarterfinal matchup with England, getting outshot by a considerable 16-9 margin. The defining moment came in the 84th minute when Harry Kane stepped up to the spot for the second time in the contest but failed to convert on his second penalty attempt of the day.
With the biggest threat so far to their World Cup supremacy disposed of, Les Bleus now face the challenge posed by Morocco’s tournament-leading defense. Fortunately, the squad saw offensive contributions come from players not named Kylian Mbappe in Saturday’s win, with Olivier Giroud scoring his second goal in as many matches and his fourth of the tourney, and veteran forward Antoine Griezmann setting up both goals in the win over the Three Lions.
Mbappe remains a dominant force on the French attack. The Paris Saint-Germain star’s breakout performance has produced a tournament-leading five goals and has been key to France’s climb to strong +115 favorites as world champions. While Mbappe didn’t crack the scoresheet Saturday, he has failed to score in consecutive outings with Les Bleus only once while scoring 16 times over his past 17 appearances across all competitions.
Can Stingy Atlas Lions Survive French Assault?
If there were any doubts that Cinderella hails from Marrakech, they were quickly dismissed by the Atlas Lions’ impressive performance in Saturday’s 1-0 upset win over Portugal. For the fourth time at this tournament, and the eighth time in nine overall outings, Morocco kept a clean sheet. In fact, the only goal they have allowed over that stretch is an own goal scored in their 2-1 group-stage win over Canada.
Once again, the Atlas Lions saw their World Cup hopes preserved by the steady play of Yassine Bounou. The Canadian-born goalkeeper affectionately known as Bono shut down Portugal shooters, who outshot Morocco by a 12-9 margin. Overall, he has given up just two total goals while backstopping the national team to a 7-2-0 win-draw-loss record over his past nine appearances.
Bono’s stingy play has been crucial given the Atlas Lions’ struggles to find the back of the net, with the team potting just five markers to date in the tournament. Youssef En-Nesyri emerged as the hero Saturday with his second match-winning goal of the World Cup and has now scored five times in 10 appearances. However, the Sevilla attacker will face a challenge to do it alone against the high-powered French on Wednesday afternoon.
France Vs Morocco Game Prop: France To Record Shutout Win
Morocco’s clean-sheet run at Qatar 2022 has been truly impressive. However, they remain fortunate to still be alive after enjoying less than 24 percent possession in their win over Portugal. With even fewer opportunities likely to come Morocco’s way against the reigning champs, France offers value as a +115 bet at Bovada to post a shutout win.
France: Keys To Win
France must avoid a letdown after Saturday’s win and must avoid looking past the Cinderella Atlas Lions, who have earned their trip to the semis with wins over European powerhouses Belgium, Spain and Portugal. That means dictating the pace early and potentially opening the floodgates by striking early in the contest.
Morocco: Keys To Win
In an offensive mismatch on paper, the best hope for the Atlas Lions to advance will come from another stout defensive performance. With several French players entering the match with yellow cards, Morocco will benefit by maintaining the frustrating defensive form that worked so well against Portugal, but will likely live or die by the performance of goalkeeper Yassine Bounou.
France is unbeaten in 3 straight World Cup semifinals.
Morocco has kept clean sheets in 8 of 9 matches.
OVER 2.5 is 5-1 in France’s past 6 World Cup matches.
