Star striker Kylian Mbappé and title-holders France will face off against an Argentina led by Lionel Messi for the World Cup championship on Sunday in a final that many were hoping for.
Kylian Mbappé's France are headed into a much-anticipated matchup with Argentina after their victory on Wednesday ended Morocco’s historic run at the World Cup.
President Emmanuel Macron was present as France beat Africa’s first-ever semifinalist 2-0, with Mbappé playing a part in goals by Theo Hernandez in the fifth minute and substitute Randal Kolo Muani in the 79th.
Mbappé became a global phenomenon by leading France to the World Cup title in Russia in 2018 and has a chance to cement his status as the sport’s new superstar when he comes up against the 35-year-old Lionel Messi, who has dominated the game along with Cristiano Ronaldo for the past 15 years.
For some that makes it the dream final, with France looking to become the first team to retain the title since Brazil in 1962 and Argentina on a mission to win soccer’s ultimate prize in what is likely to be Messi's last World Cup.
"We need all our strength, all our energy to face a very competitive team with one of the legends in the sport with Messi,” said France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
The World Cup trophy isn’t the only thing at stake on Sunday, with both Messi and Mbappé tied as the leading scorers with five goals as they chase the Golden Boot award.
There will be no team from the Arab world in the final of the first World Cup in the Middle East. Morocco has been widely lauded for breaking ground for Africa, generating an outpouring of pride also among Arab nations after topping a group containing Croatia and Belgium and eliminating two more European powers – Spain and Portugal – in the knockout stage. Their players gave France a far-from-easy ride, too, before collapsing on the ground in despair after the final whistle.
Remarkably, Hernandez’s early goal was the first scored against them by an opposition player in the tournament – the other had been an own-goal in the group stage – but Morocco responded to that and injury issues in its defence with a brave performance in front of tens of thousands of fans who dominated the 60,000-seat Al Bayt Stadium.
France was forced into some last-ditch defending at times but have developed a knack of pulling out victories despite not playing its best.
Mbappé helped lay the groundwork for the goal from Hernandez after his shot deflected off a defender and into the path of the left back, who let the ball bounce before driving a downward effort into the net from a tight angle.
Typically a defence-first team, Morocco was forced to come out and play even though it was reeling from losing Nayef Aguerd to injury in the warmup and another centre back, captain Romain Saiss, after only 21 minutes because of a hamstring injury. Both players were doubts ahead of the game but were risked by Morocco coach Walid Regragui.
Roared on by its red-and-green-clad fans, Morocco came closest to scoring when Jawad El Yamiq hit the post with an overhead kick in the 44th minute and forced France to defend in numbers.
However, Mbappé enjoyed more space as Morocco tired late in the second half and, after dribbling past two defenders, his deflected shot was tapped in by Kolo Muani, who had been on the field for less than a minute.
The goal was celebrated in the VIP seats by Macron, who flew in for the match and had earlier visited the Souq Waqif bazaar in Doha before travelling to the stadium.
Mbappé is France's leader on the football field and although he was kept relatively quiet by Morocco right back Achraf Hakimi – his teammate at Paris Saint-Germain – he showed glimpses of his skills and lethal pace, including a 60-metre run down the left that had supporters out of their seats.
In the end, Mbappé consoled a distraught Hakimi and they swapped jerseys before France's players ran in a line toward their small pocket of fans behind one of the goals.
France will be competing in the final for the fourth time in the last seven World Cups.
And Morocco’s World Cup isn’t over – the team will play the third-place playoff match against Croatia at Khalifa International Stadium on Saturday.
(FRANCE 24 with AP)
