Now might be a good time to start buying some shares in the French. It was a bracingly chilly night on Australia’s south coast, and as France comfortably despatched the World Cup’s last African representatives there was a devastating coldness to their movements, the poise and purpose of a team beginning to move through the gears at just the right time.
Their quarter-final against the co-hosts in Brisbane on Saturday morning promises to be one of the defining games of this tournament, a tantalising collision of Aussie guts and French guile, a gourmet feast of titanic battles: Sam Kerr against Wendie Renard, Caitlin Foord against Ève Périsset, Eugénie Le Sommer against whoever has the misfortune of trying to work out where Eugénie Le Sommer is going.
And in the indomitable Kadidiatou Diani France have perhaps the outstanding centre-forward of the competition so far: a creative as well as a goalscoring threat, a player who in her pace and work rate and efficiency and understanding of space encapsulates this team at their best. She scored the first goal and set up the next two. Le Sommer chipped in with two goals, and if Morocco could be proud of their progress to this point there will also be a certain regret at the ease with which they allowed France through the door.
No alarms and no surprises, then, and precious little complacency either. Then again, in Hervé Renard they have a coach who knows more than most about the dangers of an unfancied African underdog. Whether with Zambia at the men’s 2012 Africa Cup of Nations or taking Morocco’s men to the 2018 World Cup, Renard has done his best work when the odds are stacked against him. And in a way perhaps something similar is happening here: melding and moulding a squad riven by internal wrangles in the build-up to this tournament, and largely written off as a result.
The matching 4-4-2 formations suited France’s superior individual ability perfectly, creating one-on-one battles all over the pitch. And with Renard able to rest players for France’s final group game perhaps there was a disparity in energy levels too, as Morocco looked a little jaded by their leviathan efforts against South Korea and Colombia. The aggressive counter-pressing that allowed them to control those games was just a little flatter here.
Then again, when France scythe their way through, it’s not entirely clear who is equipped to stop them. Diani’s goal came after a mesmerising lattice of passes down the left wing, Sakina Karchaoui exchanging with Selma Bacha and putting in the cross for Diani. France have been this tournament’s most prolific crossing team, and here again their wingers and overlapping full-backs gave them multiple options on the flanks. In the centre they were marshalled by the excellent Grace Geyoro, locking things down in midfield, taking the ball under pressure and always doing something useful with it.
Next came Kenza Dali of Aston Villa, coming in off the right wing after a delicious improvised flick to Diani, and rolling in the return pass off the post. The third goal originated in a mistake by Nesryne El Chad, letting a long ball bounce and then putting her clearance straight against Diani. The ball ran perfectly for Le Sommer to finish. With 23 minutes gone France were 3-0 up, not that Renard seemed overly impressed, looking as ever like a man who has just dropped his designer sunglasses off the side of a yacht.
But Morocco would not capitulate as they had against Germany in their first game. Their French coach, Reynald Pedros, squeezed the lines together in the second half, bringing the defence higher and trying to snuff out Le Sommer’s space. It partially worked, generating a few half-openings on the breakaway. But by this point France were primarily concerned with avoiding injuries and suspensions. The substitutes impressed, and on 70 minutes Vicki Bècho carved out a little space on the right wing, curling a demonic cross around the back of the Moroccan defence and finding the head of Le Sommer at the back post.
Four-nil, then, but a landmark debut World Cup campaign for Morocco, who recovered from their 6-0 drubbing by Germany to secure the most unlikely last-16 qualification. And if Nigeria and South Africa have shown how outstanding collectives of players can bond and gel in the face of administrative dysfunction, then Morocco offer a different model of success: a lesson in the value of strategy, foresight and proper investment.
They are one of the few countries in the world to have two fully professional women’s leagues, setting up regional academies across the country, establishing a centre of excellence in Salé where women’s football is treated with equal seriousness as men’s. And, even in their disappointment, for the Atlas Lionesses this felt like a beginning rather than an end.
