France’s World Cup campaign has already tested their firepower, patience and nerves, but Thursday’s quarter-final against
Morocco will offer Didier Deschamps’ side something different: their first full football examination of the tournament. The meeting is a rematch of the 2022 World Cup semi-final, when France ended Morocco’s historic run in Qatar, but this time the North Africans arrive not as surprise outsiders but as a confident, gifted side who have been open about their ambition to win the tournament. France reached the last eight after a 1-0 win over Paraguay, a game that demanded character and patience more than fluency. Paraguay sat deep, slowed the rhythm and forced France to find a way through a packed defensive structure.
