The defending champions and one of the clear favourites before the World Cup, France, clashed with the biggest surprise of the championship and the first African team ever to play in a World Cup semi-final.
There were fears of a cultural clash too, with Moroccan fans already forcing police to intervene in the streets in several places across Europe after advancing past the Portuguese in the last round of the competition. But that was not the case on the streets of Qatar, where fans watched the arrival of both teams' buses for the semi-final match in good spirits.
Morocco had already managed to catch several bigger teams by surprise at the tournament, but they found France a different proposition. The French took the lead after just five minutes thanks to an acrobatic finish by Theo Hernández and kept their lead for the rest of the match.
Coach Didier Deschamps sent on Randal Kolo Muani in the 78th minute and he doubled the score in the very next minute, and with that, it would be France to play Argentina for the World Cup in Qatar on Sunday.
It took Hernández four minutes and 39 seconds to score the opening goal of the match. It was the fastest goal in a World Cup semi-final since 1958. The stats show that Hernandez can be happy with the rest of his performance as well, with seven duels won and a 100% success rate in duels.
One of the best players in the game was undoubtedly Antoine Griezmann. If you look at the heatmap of his movement around the pitch, you can see that he was effective in offensive and defensive areas. His passing success rate has reached 81% and he has already created 18 key chances for his teammates in the championship. Together with Lionel Messi, that is the most of all in the World Cup.
Looking at the expected goals scored, you can see that France 'deserved' to win the match, scoring almost exactly as many goals as they should have according to this metric. Morocco's best chances came at 2-0, but they could not break the French defence.
The average positions of both teams are a little surprising. It shows that Morocco were far from defensive as they were forced to play on the front foot by an early goal. Compare Morocco's previous average field positions with those of France and they certainly showed courage in search of a goal.
And finally, a look at France’s shots, which they had 15 in total. But only two of them were on target and both were goals. That is why France are the first European team since Germany in 1990 to play in a World Cup final for the second time in a row. And this is the fourth time in the last seven World Cups that France have made the final.
Now we know our finalists for the 2022 World Cup - Argentina and France. Will it be Kylian Mbappe or Lionel Messi who will lift the trophy on Sunday? We will be part of your weekend after the game bringing you the best stats from what will be an intriguing game. Until then, have a great week.
