After a very long but enjoyable few weeks of on-field action, the World Cup is now firmly on the home straight, with just four matches left to play before one of Argentina, Croatia, France and Morocco gets their hands on the famous gold trophy. Both semi-finals are shaping up to be hugely enjoyable contests, with plenty of fans around the world expected to tune in as they wait to see who will reach Sunday’s final and who will fall short at the last hurdle.
This tactical analysis will preview all of the action from the second of those last four games, which sees history-makers Morocco face defending champions France. The analysis will provide updates on injuries, suspensions and other team news, as well as detail what to expect from both sides in attack, defence and during transitions at the Al Bayt Stadium and provide a potential outcome.
Team news
France managed to get through their quarter-final against England with no injuries or suspensions being picked up, so Didier Deschamps will have a full squad to choose from on Wednesday as he looks to seal a place in Sunday’s showdown. With that in mind, it is a fair assumption to make that he will name the same starting eleven as he did on Saturday, barring anything happening between now and then.
The same cannot be said for Morocco, however, with some in the media describing them as “walking wounded” ahead of the biggest game in their footballing history. Full-back Noussair Mazraoui and West Ham United defender Nayef Aguerd both sat the win against Portugal out with illness and injury problems, whilst captain and former Wolves player Romain Saïss was taken off on a stretcher during the match, so the Atlas Lions are thin on the ground when it comes to defensive options.
Forward Walid Cheddira will also miss this game, with the Bari player suspended after picking up two yellow cards as a substitute last time out, so there will be some big personnel decisions for head coach Walid Regragui to make ahead of the game getting underway as he looks to help his side cause yet another tournament shock.
Frances attack
With the options that France have in forward areas, it would have been a surprise to see them not play the majority of their games on the front foot. However, the way that they have gone about constructing their offensive play has been really clever, as it has always been about the team and not just about what Kylian Mbappé can do.
When looking for two players who have had a significant impact on their attacking play, it is difficult to look past the full-backs, with Deschamps’ tactics seeing them push higher up the field when Les Bleus have the ball in order to support those further up the field. Generally, it has been Barcelona’s Jules Koundé and AC Milan’s Theo Hernandez who have started in these roles, and both are either level with or ahead of the ball here and are offering good passing options.
It is worth noting that Hernandez is the furthest forward of the two, which might be due to Koundé being a centre-back by trade and therefore more inclined to stay back, or it might be tactical. However, whichever it is doesn’t matter, because the key thing to focus on here is how the rest of the team work to enable them to move into dangerous areas. In this case, Mbappé has spotted Hernandez’s run and has dropped back, as illustrated by the yellow arrow, giving his teammate space to move behind the Polish defensive line.
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