Four things to look out for as France take on Morocco in World Cup semifinal

🌟 WORLD CUP SEMIS

TODAY
⚽ France 🇫🇷  vs Morocco  🇲🇦 – 10pm (UBC TV)

Doha, Qatar | Xinhua | Wednesday’s second World Cup semifinal sees France as clear favorites against Morocco, but the Moroccans’ historic progress to the last four in Qatar shows we can take nothing for granted. Here are four things to look out for on Wednesday night.

Griezmann the supplier and more

Antoine Griezmann was arguably France’s best player in their 2-1 win over England, with the Atletico Madrid forward dropping once again into a deeper role. That allowed him to use his energy to cover in midfield and defense and to break up English attacks (often with cynical fouls). He was also in the right place to give the assists for France’s two goals. The first a simple pass for Aurelien Tchouameni and a second a pinpoint cross for Olivier Giroud to score the winning goal.

Expect more of the same from Griezmann on Wednesday, where France will have to break down a packed defense and also stop any Moroccan counter attacks.

En-Nesyri: Morocco’s big threat

One of the players charged with launching those counter-attacks for Morocco is the striker Youssef En-Nesyri: The Sevilla forward has scored three times for his country in this tournament, although with better finishing he could have had more.

Although he can be wayward at times in his definition, En-Nesyri is a constant handful for rival defenders, with his pace and height making him a threat both on the break and from set-pieces.

The striker is able to use his body to gain possession and bring others into play and while his ‘leggy’ style might not be pretty to watch, it is effective.

Mbappe vital in tight spaces

England did an excellent job of keeping Kylian Mbappe quiet in Saturday’s quarter-final, although you could argue that in keeping Mbappe quiet, they failed to take enough care with other French forwards, such as Griezmann and Giroud.

However, although Mbappe was more of a lurking presence, rather than a direct threat for England, he will probably have to step up a gear against a Moroccan side that will play differently to England. Whereas England looked to take France on head-to-head, Morocco will sit deep and try and deny France space in attack. It is here Mbappe’s ability to turn, hold off a defender and gain two yards of space from seemingly nowhere needs to be decisive.

Problems for Morocco in defense

Morocco’s defense has been built on three pillars. Right back Achraf Hakimi and central defenders Romain Saiss and Nayef Aguerd. However, Aguerd picked up a thigh injury in the last-16 tie against Spain, while Saiss, who is also Morocco’s captain, was injured against Portugal.

While it’s true that Morocco held on against Portugal without either Aguerd or Saiss on the pitch, losing their two best defenders is a handicap and also limits coach Walid Regragui’s options to make substitutions.

Striker Walid Cheddira’s rash sending off against Portugal also limits Regragui’s options and ahead of what will be a hugely demanding match for Morocco, the substitutes’ bench is starting to look a little too depopulated for comfort.