France, Argentina, Croatia, and African country Morocco are the four teams that have booked a place in the FIFA World Cup semifinals. Argentina will play against Croatia in the first semifinal, France will face Morocco in second semifinal.
Head To Head:
France and Morocco had faced 5 times in International Level.
France won: 3
Morocco won: 1
Draw: 1
But they have never met in FIFA World Cup. This will be their first meeting at the showpiece event.
France
- Antoine Griezmann bagged two assists for his country against England in the FIFA World Cup quarterfinal, becoming the all-time leader in French football history with 28 assists. Griezmann broke the joint-top record set by Thierry Henry and Zinedine Zidane (26). He has 42 goals for his country and is third in the list of all-time goalscorers for his country, behind Olivier Giroud (52) and Thierry Henry (51).
- Kylian Mbappé is the 1st player in history to score 9 goals in the WC before his 24th birthday. He thus broke the 60 year old record of Legendary Pele
- Kylian Mbappé is already second on France’s all-time list with nine goals in 12 World Cup appearances. Only Just Fontaine, who scored an incredible 13 times at the 1958 tournament in Sweden, has more World Cup goals for France.
- Kylian Mbappé surpassed Ronaldo’s 8 WC final goals.
- Olivier Giroud scored his 52nd goal for the French national team in quarterfinal against Poland, overtaking Thierry Henry (51) to become the top goal scorer in Les Bleus’ history. Antoine Griezmann scored 42 Goals, while Michel Platini scored 40 Goals.
- Olivier Giroud (36y 65d) has become the oldest goal scorer in the knockout stages of the WC since Roger Milla in the 1990 round of 16 game against Colombia (38y 34d)
- France’s appearance in World Cup Finals 16 – Played: 71 Matches; Won: 38; Draw: 13; Lost: 20; (Knockout matches which were decided on penalty shoot-out – included in draw) Updated till Quarterfinal Match against England.
- This will be France’s 7th appearance in WC SF: 1958, 1982, 1986, 1998, 2006, 2018, 2022
- 1958: lost to Brazil 2-5
- 1982: lost to West Germany 3-3 (4-5)
- 1986: lost to West Germany 0-2
- 1998: defeated Croatia 2-1
- 2006: defeated Portugal 1-0
- 2018: defeated Belgium 1-0
Morocco
- Morocco are the 1st African team to reach the semifinals of the WC.
- Morocco coach Walid Regragui has become the 1st ever African manager to reach the WC semifinals.
- No opposition player has scored against Morocco in normal time after 5 matches in this edition of WC. The only goal they conceded in this edition against Canada was an own goal by Nayef Aguerd.
- Youssef En-Nesyri scored the all-important goal against Portugal in Quarterfinal. This was his third goal and thus became the highest goal scorer for Morocco in FIFA World Cup History.
- Morocco’s appearance in World Cup Finals 6 – Played: 21 Matches; Won: 5; Draw: 7; Lost: 9; (Knockout matches which were decided on penalty shoot-out – included in draw) Updated till Quarterfinal Match against Portugal.
