France vs Morocco: Team with 11 goals versus a team which has conceded just one — an own goal

It was not quite Mbappe’s day, he was unusually quiet. In the four games he had started, he had the fewest touches overall (40), touches in the opposition box (three), passes in the final third (16), attempts (four) and dribbles (two).

These are not bad numbers. But bad numbers because it was Mbappe; because he was the hottest goalscorer in the tournament; because nights like these are rare, when he is contained, when the man made for the centre-stage becomes a forlorn figure in the periphery. It becomes news.

The numbers were put forth to manager Didier Deschamps. Even the usually deadpan-faced Deschamps broke into peals of laughter. “He just didn’t score a goal in one match and you call it bad form,” he said.

When Mbappe scores goals, and even when he doesn’t, it triggers debates, arguments and analysis. Such is his aura and stature. And unsurprisingly, he loomed large over the press conferences of both Deschamps and his Moroccan counterpart Walid Regragui.

Questions to Regragui went like, “what are your plans for stopping him?” or “will you go for a three-man defence?” or “did you watch the England match?” And questions to Deschamps like, “what went wrong with him in England?” or “is this a dangerous sign?” The French manager would merely say: “It’s not just about Mbappe. We have other goal-scorers, too.”

A platitude but still, a rational explanation.

Among the four survivors, France has scored the most number of goals (11). Among the quartet, Morocco, their semifinal opponents on Thursday (12.30 am IST), have conceded the fewest goals (one).

This set of statistics capture the essence of their contest — a goal-scoring machine versus impregnable defence.

This has a retro Brazil-Italy vibe to it.

France’s progress to the final will depend on how they break Regragui’s gladiatorial defensive block, and Morocco’s history-ending streak on how they stifle France’s gilt-edged, twinkling offence.

There are multiple layers that make the game intriguing and fascinating. France have not duelled as compactly defensive a side as Morocco; the latter as gifted a forward-line as France, either.

The two sides Morocco countered in knockouts have been Spain and Portugal.

Spain were fatally devoted to their passing philosophy. Morocco cleverly disrupted it by continuously breaking the lines and making Spain pass more vertically, suffocating the central channels and strangling the stabiliser of their pass-orchestra, Sergio Busquets.

Against Portugal, a more direct team, Morocco pressed vigorously, stole possession, broke their rhythm and counterattacked valiantly. They constricted the hat-trick hero Goncalo Ramos, the most direct of goal-scoring threats, like a python would its prey. Yet, both Bruno Fernandes and Joao Felix came close to scoring on numerous occasions.

France is Portugal multiplied twice or thrice, every piece in the forward-line an upgrade.

Olivier Giroud offers a physical threat that none of the Spanish or Portugal attackers has offered; Mbappe and Ousmane could rattle with blinding pace. The latter has clocked 35 kmph, the former 35.3 kmph, and together form the fastest pair in this World Cup. Morocco’s centre-back pair of Nayef Aguerd and Romain Saiss are not the quickest around, which implies that they would require shoring up from the wings, from Achraf Hakimi and Noussair Mazraoui, besides the immense Sofyan Amrabat. Part of Mbappe’s bad night owed to the efficiency of Kyle Walker, one of the swiftest full-backs around.

The threat does not end here. Behind the forwards are the play-making double pivots (effectively, though not positionally) of Antoine Greizmann and Adrien Rabiot, both posing different threats; Greizmann is the master of cheek and chicanery, Rabiot of muscle and precision.

Unlike Spain, France are a tactically flexible side that can change colours and tactics according to the opposition as well as the game situation. Almost all of the front five could play-make as well as score; even the defensive midfielder Aurélien Tchouaméni could; so could Theo Hernandez, and Rafael Varane. “A difficult team to defend, and they always score a goal when they need a goal,” says Regragui, his furrows thickening.

But if the French are an incisive group, the Moroccans are an indefatigable bunch. It’s not like they just sit back, congregate men and defend. Against every team they had a precise plan. Against Croatia, they focused on blocking out the passing lanes of the midfield trio of Luka Modric, Marcelo Brozovic and Mateo Kovacic. Their prime focus was not on Kovacic and Modric, but Brozovic, to prevent him from enjoying too many touches in the midfield, to deny him the opportunity to carry the ball upfield.

The first line of defence started with Youssef En-Nesyri, behind him were Azzedine Ounahi and Selim Amallah, tightly holding onto Modric and Kovacic. The excellent Sofyan Amrabat would do the mopping up.

Similarly, against Belgium, they pushed full-back Noussair Mazraoui much more forward than he usually positions himself to chain Kevin de Bruyne.

Soon after they scored, the manager brought in another defender and shut-shop, as the shape shifted to 5-4-1.

Against Spain, they cornered Busquets, En-Nesyri in front of him and Amrabat just behind him. Both pressed him relentlessly, in the end frustrating him. Against Portugal, Regragui switched to a back five in the last 35 minutes of the game. Thus in every game, they tried to match the shape of their opponents with minor tweaks, before and through the game, made possibly only by the cohesiveness and understanding of the backline. It should be no different against France, making their meeting a highly tactical game decided perhaps in bursts of ingenuity. A big part of it would be to contain Mbappe, make him settle for bad numbers (by his standards) as he had against England and hope he heaves the ball into the distance rather than to the back of the net.