Kylian Mbappe versus Lionel Messi was the FIFA World Cup final that many were hoping for and their dream match was realized on Wednesday when France ended Morocco’s historic run at the tournament to book a place in the final against Argentina.
With French President Emmanuel Macron in the stands, France beat Africa’s first ever semi-finalists, with Mbappe playing a part in goals by Theo Hernandez in the fifth minute and substitute Randal Kolo Muani in the 79th minute.
Mbappe 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 Messi, who has dominated the game with Cristiano Ronaldo for the past 15 years.
Photo: AFP
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,” France goalkepeer Hugo Lloris said.
There will be no team from the Arab world in the final of the first World Cup in the Middle East, a prospect that seemed nearly impossible before the tournament, yet nearly happened in Qatar.
Photo: AP
Morocco have been widely lauded for breaking ground for Africa and generated an outpouring of pride 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 their defense with a brave performance in front of tens of thousands of fans who dominated the 60,000-seat al-Bayt Stadium.
France were forced into some last-ditch defending at times, but have developed a knack of pulling out victories despite not playing their best.
Mbappe helped create the goal for Hernandez because his shot deflected off a defender and into the path of the leftback, who let the ball bounce before driving a downward effort into the net from a tight angle.
Typically a defense-first team, Morocco were forced to come out and play even though they were reeling from losing Nayef Aguerd to injury in the warmup and another centerback, 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 their 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, Mbappe 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 traveling to the stadium.
Mbappe is France’s leader on the soccer field and although he was kept relatively quiet by Morocco rightback Achraf Hakimi — his teammate at Paris Saint-Germain — he showed glimpses of his skills and lethal pace, including a 60m run down the left that had supporters out of their seats.
At the end, Mbappe 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 past seven World Cups.
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