The quarter finals have concluded and we now know the teams who will be competing in the 2022 World Cup semi finals.
Argentina and Croatia will meet for one spot in the final, while the other final four clash will see France battle Morocco.
While Les Bleus are defending champions after victory in Russia in 2018, Morocco are playing in the semi finals for the first time ever and are the first African and Arab side to achieve the feat.
Here’s how the two sides have fared in their previous meetings ahead of the semi final.
France and Morocco have met five times in official international fixtures. The first took place in 1988, which France won 2-1, but their history goes back further.
They played unofficial games in the 1960s and also squared off in the Mediterranean Games.
A 1998 friendly saw Salaheddine Bassir score twice for Morocco and France replied through Laurent Blanc and Youri Djorkaeff. The game somewhat unusually ended with a penalty shootout which the Atlas Lions won.
The two sides would meet two more times in 1999 and 2000, France winning both encounters. After a 1-0 win earned by another Djorkaeff strike, Les Bleus would then smash Morocco 5-1 thanks to goals from Thierry Henry, Djorkaeff, Christophe Dugarry, Nicolas Anelka and Sylvain Wiltord.
The most recent game between France and Morocco came in 2007 as they played out an entertaining 2-2 draw at Stade de France. Tarik Sektioui scored for the visitors early on before Sidney Govou equalised, with Samir Nasri putting the hosts ahead in the 76th minute. Youssef Mokhtari would make it 2-2 just under ten minutes later.
France H2H record vs Morocco
France and Morocco have never played each other at the World Cup or a major tournament. As previously mentioned, they did face off in games during the 1960s, though they aren’t viewed as proper international fixtures.
We mentioned a fella by the name of Youri Djorkaeff a fair amount earlier, so it’s no surprise to learn he is the leading goalscorer in this fixture with three strikes.
Salaheddine Bassir’s double in the 1998 friendly makes him the second highest goalscorer, but no other player has netted more than once.
