World champions finished with surprises – Sport – Kommersant
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The French team, the winner of the previous world championship, was one step away from defending their title in Qatar. In the semi-finals of this World Cup, despite the desperate resistance of the Moroccans, she beat them 2-0 and now on Sunday she will fight for gold with the Argentines.
The Moroccan team, which had already made a dizzying jump, and so broke through its own ceiling, flying through a hole in it somewhere into space, still did not want to complete its Qatari ascent on such a resounding note. In order to throw into the ditch the third – after the Spaniards and the Portuguese – the grandee who caught her in the playoffs, Romain Saiss and Nussair Mazraoui returned to the Moroccan squad, although even the day before they were injured, they said that if they could to enter the field, except on crutches. But no, they endured the pain – apparently still unbearable, given that Captain Saiss lasted only half a time before asking for a replacement.
And this team, whose players for the sake of the World Cup finals were ready to ruin their health, maybe risk their entire careers, was stung by the French team right away. And it was a goal illustrating almost the main advantage of her Qatari version. Of course, those who pay attention to how often the French play crosses on Olivier Giroud are right, but the joke is that they have a bunch of various effective attacking techniques in their arsenal, including completely unexpected ones.
The participants in this episode seem to have switched places and roles. Antoine Griezmann, who, in theory, was supposed to pass from the depths, rushed into the open area on the left in the penalty area – the one that usually belongs to Ousmane Dembele. Instead, an excellent vertical pass was made by the central defender Rafael Varane, in whom none of the opponents could see a tough playmaker.
Then Griezmann, of course, moved the ball to the center. But in the center was not Giroud, but Kylian Mbappe, spinning in an anthill of the Moroccans who surrounded him. Mbappe managed, despite such resistance, to break through twice. And the second – after a picked up rebound – goalkeeper Yassin Bunu beat off the blow to his right side. And there, in the position of Mbappe, was the formal defender Theo Hernandez, who performed such a trick that few forwards are capable of. The body laid parallel to the lawn, the chic “scissors”, the ball flying into the net after such a vivid demonstration of football acrobatics – the picture was asking for some kind of glossy cover.
And the goal of Hernandez pulled on a big event. Before this semi-final, the Moroccan national team conceded only one goal in Qatar, and that one from its player. And for the first time, a strange player scored her, adding more logs to the fire of intrigue. After all, it was interesting to see how the Moroccan team, which admired the harmony and density of their football, so it turns out, only in situations where it is not necessary to score, will act in a situation where it is necessary to score at all costs. Is it sharpened for such football? Will this Hernandez ball be a verdict for her or will the strange trend of the world championships, which is just for the Moroccans, work? There have been four semi-finals in the history of the championships, which began with a quick goal that was within the starting five-minute period. And in three of these matches, the team that conceded him won.
Meanwhile, the Moroccan team, forced to attack, also had a pretty pretty face. And French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris soon bailed out the world champions by taking a nasty kick from Azzedine Unai in the corner. But the cost of risk for the Moroccans was high. Payment, of course, in the form of French attacks. Such, for example, as the very simple one that was reduced to the removal of the ball and a dash through the thinned Moroccan rear by Olivier Giroud. He fired heartily from the penalty area and hit the post.
And then there was a moment even sharper, highlighting the variety of useful qualities of Aurélien Chuameni. He dragged the ball to the Moroccan penalty area and brought almost one on one with Kylian Mbappe’s Yassin Bounou. Mbappe didn’t manage to throw the ball on target, but Chuameni, who didn’t turn off the game for a moment, took the rebound, instantly seeing that Olivier Giroud was completely free. After the transfer of a partner, Giroud only needed not to miss a touch from a dozen meters. He missed.
But the moment was before the break and the Moroccans. Javad El-Yamik could even surpass Theo Hernandez. After a corner, he kicked over himself, hit cool, but the ball was taken over by the post.
And after the break, the French experts were in a state of shock. They didn’t believe their eyes. Well, it is clear that the alignment required pressure from the Moroccans. But the British did not press the French so hard in the quarterfinals either! In the first quarter of an hour of the second half of the meeting, Moroccan ball possession went off scale for 70 percent, and the ghost of impending trouble constantly wandered next to Hugo Lloris.
And that’s what else those people who were worried about the French team infuriated and frightened. Such pressure from the opponent is a chance for your own counterattacks. And for them, the current French team is tailored perfectly. But the counterattacks did not work. And the most revealing thing is that Kylian Mbappe, this football Usain Bolt, could not escape from the guardians, even if he received the ball on the sidelines, having half a body of advantage.
But this game still equally illustrated both the power of the Moroccan team and its weakness, demonstrated why, with all its cuteness, with all its achievements, whatever one may say, it is too early to call it a full-fledged, without a single reservation, grandee. Grand pressed to the ropes opponent finishes mercilessly. The Moroccans, pressed against the ropes, forgave and forgave the French. Something they, whatever one may say, lacked the confidence that distinguishes a real giant team from a team that looks like a giant, confidence that transforms into composure.
And the French team, of course, in the end, put out the fire, for this they put Olivier Giroud on the bench. And Kylian Mbappe, of course, eventually woke up and turned on, giving out a luxurious number. Mbappe in the penalty area, on a handkerchief dealt with three Moroccans. And let the fourth one prevent him from sending the ball into the goal, but the ball after the rebound went to Randal Kolo Muani, who had just come on as a substitute. And in front of them was already a wide-open corner of the gate.
The French went to the final, in which on Sunday they will meet with the Argentines and try to become the first team that managed to defend the main football title, after the Brazilian: it defended its own in 1962. The Moroccans will play on Saturday in the match for third place with the Croats defeated on Tuesday – 3:0 – by the Argentinean team.
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