The winner of the France vs Morocco matchup that will take place today at 2 PM EST at Al Bayt Stadium will produce Argentina’s opponent in the World Cup Final. This Semi-Final will represent a David vs Goliath matchup. France is the defending champion with all the star talent, while Morocco has become the first African nation to ever reach a World Cup Semi-Final.
We’ll preview the matchup and give the best betting odds for the last Semi-Final game.
France Continues to Win
The player Morocco will have to keep their eye on is Kylian Mbappe. Mbappe has already scored 5 goals in this tournament and is pushing to win the Golden Boot. England did a phenomenal job containing the star Frenchmen, but it was all for not as other players were able to punish them. Morocco will have to balance things out between the attention they place on Mbappe and the other French stars.
It’s safe to say that France was able to avoid the World Cup winner’s curse in this year’s tournament. They came away on top of their group and defeated their European rivals en route to making it back-to-back appearances in the World Cup Semi-Final.
Olivier Giroud deserves a lot of credit for France reaching this stage again. The star forward has 4 goals during this tournament and in the midst of it all has passed Thierry Henry to become France’s all-time leading goal scorer.
Can the Cinderella Run Continue?
While France has done their usual thing, Morocco has become the story of the tournament. The African nation has captured the attention of the soccer world. They’ve served as one of the more popular teams in Qatar after the host nation got bounced in the group stages.
Morocco has played outstanding defense in the tournament. They’ve only conceded one goal, and that was on an own goal in the group stages. Their goalkeeper, Yassine Bounou, became the star of the show in Morocco’s penalty shootout win over Spain in the Round of 16. Bounou didn’t concede a goal in penalties and made 2 great saves. They’ll likely need him to make a few more big saves in the Semi-Final vs France.
Achraf Hakimi has been one of the stars of this Moroccan team. Hakimi is a defender that loves to push forward. He was able to cap off his side’s penalty shootout win over Spain with a soft chip down the middle as the keeper dove to his right. The Moroccan star plays his club soccer with PSG. He’ll be hoping to break the hearts of his club supporters in this one.
Hakim Ziyech has been another critical part of this team’s success. The midfielder/forward, who plays his club soccer with Chelsea, has done a great job in Morocco’s attacking presence. He delivered his team’s first goal against Canada in their final group-stage game after a miscue from the goalkeeper. He’ll be looking to create opportunities against France as his country looks for a bid in the World Cup Final.
The African Nation is a Massive Underdog
There’s no surprise that Morocco is a huge underdog coming into this matchup. After all they weren’t supposed to advance past the group stages, while France was supposed to go on a deep run.
If you’re looking to take Morocco to advance to the final, do so on FanDuel where their odds are listed at +340 to go through.
If Your Bet Wins
According to FanDuel, the most likely Moroccan goalscorer is Youssef En-Nesyri. En-Nesyri is Morocco’s leading goal scorer during the World Cup, accounting for 2 of his team’s 5 goals. There are 8 French players listed ahead of En-Nesyri in terms of the likelihood to produce a goal in the Semi-Final contest. One of them is Kylian Mbappe. Mbappe’s odds to find the back of the net on Wednesday are +130, making him the most likely goalscorer on either side.
There’s much better value in placing a bet on Morocco in this one. The African nation has some magic going to this point in the World Cup. They should have most of the crowd support as they look to push past this year’s French team.
Whoever comes away with a victory in this match will have their hands full on Sunday. The winner will face Argentina to win the World Cup on December 18th from Lusail Iconic Stadium at 10 AM EST.
