France v Morocco: Atlas Lions eye World Cup final spot by eliminating champions
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World Cup 2022: France v Morocco betting tips and odds
Morocco have been the biggest story of the World Cup having taken the scalps of three European heavyweights and now get the chance for the biggest coup of all as they face defending champions France for a place in the final.
The Atlas Lions have already made history by becoming the first African team to reach a World Cup semi-final but are 3/1 to go one better and 13/2 to do so inside 90 minutes against the team that beat England in the last eight on Saturday night.
Didier Deschamps’ side are the obvious favourites but they rode their luck in the second half of their 2-1 quarter-final victory against England, especially when Harry Kane blazed his second penalty over the bar in the last six minutes.
The holders have now conceded in all five matches in Qatar, although they had a late controversial penalty awarded against them in the 3-1 victory over Poland and Deschamps rested his senior players for the 1-0 group-stage defeat by Tunisia.
That said, Morocco scored twice against Belgium and once against Portugal, so both teams to score has its merits at 27/20. The strength of this team, though, lies in defence which has been magnificent, with no opposition player scoring against them at the World Cup.
The only time they conceded was an own goal in a 2-1 victory against Canada, so France’s feted attack will need to be on their mettle if they are to reach the final again, possibly against Croatia in a repeat of the 2018 showpiece.
However, Roman Saiss was carried off on a stretcher during the win against Portugal and is doubtful to start, like central defensive partner Nayef Aguerd, who sustained an injury in the penalty shoot-out win against Spain in the last 16.
The north Africans have never beaten France in seven attempts but drew their last meeting in an international friendly in 2007, so the first of our France v Morocco betting tips is for the match to end all square at the end of 90 minutes at 11/4.
We’re not expecting too many goals in this match bearing in mind four of Morocco’s five matches have involved two goals or fewer and they tend to sit deep and soak up pressure without being too adventurous. Under 1.5 goals is available at 7/4.
Although goals could be at a premium, there is a side issue in this sem-final as Kylian Mbappe and Olivier Giroud both remain in the hunt for the Golden Boot.
Mbappe leads the scoring charts with five goals, one more than his team-mate, and is 1/2 to finish top of the pile, but he was well shackled by Kyle Walker on Saturday and his PSG colleague Hakimi will know all about his tricks ahead of Wednesday’s meeting.
We go 3/1 on Mbappe to break the deadlock or 5/4 to get on the scoresheet, but 36-year-old AC Milan striker Giroud has lost none of his instinct in front of goal as he proved with his match-winning header against the Three Lions and is 7/2 and 6/4 in the two markets in our France v Morocco betting tips.
Youssef En-Nesyri scored an even better header in the win against Portugal, leaping salmon-like to take advantage of hesitancy by keeper Diogo Costa.
