France beat Morocco 2-0 to secure their spot in the World Cup semi-final, where they will face the winners of Spain vs Belgium.
Both sides started at a fairly low tempo, with Morocco looking to take the early sting out of the game, while France struggled to break through a stubborn 4-4-2 block.
Just as things opened up and France won a penalty, Kylian Mbappe failed to capitalise and open the scoring, after a three minute wait to take the spot kick.
But it was Mbappe who managed to unlock the low block, pouncing onto a loose ball inside the box and finding the far corner to make it 1-0.
Once they found a way to break through, the game opened up, allowing the space for France to play and find their attacking rhythm.
Ousmane Dembele added the second in the 66th minute, receiving the ball with space to stride into and making it 2-0.
In this article, we’ll cover
Morocco game plan
Mohamed Ouahbi set his side up to defend in a resolute 4-4-2, willing to drop deep inside their own half and limit the space France had.
This is a wise decision against Didier Deschamps’ current side, as the pace they possess to hurt you in open spaces can kill a game before it truly begins.
However, if you are going to defend this way, you are largely accepting you will cede possession for long periods, struggling to get out of your own half.
And this is exactly how it looked for Morocco, who lacked the runners to hurt France on the break, with the risk of being exposed if they were dispossed in their own transition attempt.
Therefore, Ouahbi’s plan was to retain possession instead of looking to immediately hurt them on the break.
The plan was to kill France’s press/counterpress, slow the game down to their speed and look to create artifical transitions instead.
Neil El Aynaoui would drop between Issa Diop and Noussair Mazraoui, creating a back three in the build up.
Achraf Hakimi would then float between a nominal right-back zone and a more advanced position, waiting to join the attack if they found their way through the lines.
Anass Salah-Eddine would then roll inside from left-back, giving Morocco the overload in build up and looking to bait pressure from France to activate their press.
While Morocco did find the pockets of space behind Manu Kone and Adrien Rabiot when they were dragged out on a few occasions, the bravery to accelerate play from there was lacking, with the Moroccans looking fearful of France on the break.
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France block vs space
Morocco were prepared to defend low, doubling up down the sides with their wide men, sometimes even dropping into a back six.
This made it difficult for France to manufacture 1v1 isolations on the sides, while also having little space to access through the centre due to the work from the front two and midfield two.
France’s best chances against a more settled Morocco block was by using the wide triangle rotations to clear space below.
This allowed the forwards to take shots from range or whip crosses into the box, looking to create moments of chaos.
When you have the quality of forwards France possess, it feels like only a matter of time before one of them provides that moment of quality to break things open.
That’s when the fun can begin, as this France side are even more frightening when attacking in larger open spaces.
Not only was this clear when France won a penalty in the first half, but after making it 1-0, these spaces began to open up more.
Dembele’s goal was a perfect example of this, as Morocco had to jump out and apply more pressure as they are looking to win it back and get back in the game.
With the extra space, the front four have more freedom to interchange, make runs behind to open space for others and provide their magic.
Mbappe flicks the switch
Despite missing the penalty, Mbappe was the one to find the breakthrough, providing the moment of quality to unlock Morocco’s defence.
During the chaos after a failed cross, France were able to keep it alive, with Morocco failing to clear the ball.
Adrien Rabiot kept it alive with a header to sustain pressure, allowing Doue to get a touch which took it towards Mbappe inside the box.
From there, it’s all about Mbappe’s quality, opening up like he was going to try and go behind Issa Diop, using a faint to shift the defender.
Mbappe then used Diop to guide his shot, curling it into the far right corner, over the diving Yassine Bounou between the sticks.
The 27-year-old Frenchman also played a big part in Dembele’s goal, receiving the ball and laying it off to his teammate in space in front of the defensive line.
But it was the movement after that, with the Moroccan backline fearful of Mbappe’s pace, his movement to threaten behind opened up space.
This allowed Dembele to continue to bring the ball forward, before having the space to get his shot away, making it 2-0.
France’s attacking unit are capable of breaking any gamestate, finding ways to break low blocks and taking games out of reach when given space to operate.
And Mbappe is always at the heart of it.
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