Argentina booked their place in the World Cup final on Tuesday, and now it’s time to decide who will join them in Sunday’s showdown.
Facing off for the second place in the final are the reigning champions and the team with the best defensive record in the tournament in France and Morocco respectively.
The festival of football may be nearing its business end, but Bet9ja is still bringing you more than 160 markets on all World Cup matches. You will find the lowdown on both teams below going into a fascinating night of football.
France vs Morocco
Al Bayt Stadium
Wednesday 14th December, 20:00
The odds may only point to one result on Wednesday night, but Morocco have shown plenty of times during this tournament they cannot be written off, as they look to make France their latest scalp.
The Moroccans made World Cup history on Saturday when Youssef En-Nesyri’s header allowed them to beat Portugal 1-0 and become the first African nation to reach a World Cup semi-final.
France then secured a spot in a second consecutive semi-final by scoring their own winning goal with a header when their record goalscorer Olivier Giroud helped them to a 2-1 victory against England.
The two teams would have come into the tournament with very different expectations, and even the most optimistic of bettors would likely not have predicted Morocco would reach this stage, having only qualified for the tournament twice this century and having not reached the knockout stages since 1986.
But Walid Regragui’s team have proved how a stable defence can lay the foundations for success. They have only conceded one goal in their five games in the tournament, and given that was an own goal against Canada, no opposition player has managed to score against them.
The Atlas Lions have also shown they do not need to dominate the ball to achieve significant results. This particularly stood out in their 2-0 win over Belgium in the Group Stage, their penalty shootout win against Spain after a 0-0 draw in the Last 16 and the victory over Portugal on Saturday, where their shares of possession were 33%, 23% and 27% respectively.
It hasn’t just been the final outcome that has stood out, as all three of those opponents in particular rarely looked likely to breach Morocco’s defence or dominate the match. Spain only managed one attempt on target and Portugal could only match Morocco’s three attempts on target.
A growing problem for Regragui to deal with is injury worries hanging over several of his players. The first-choice centre-back pairing of Romain Saiss and Nayef Aguerd are both doubts, as is left-back Noussair Mazraoui; the latter two missed the Portugal game, so Morocco have proved they can cope without them.
Keeping France out could be a different matter entirely though. Les Bleus are looking to become the first team to successfully defend the World Cup since Brazil managed it in 1962. They were not at their best against England in the last round, and were let off with Harry Kane’s late penalty miss, but their experience seemed to make the difference.
Going into the semi-finals, France had scored more goals in the tournament than any other team with 11. Aside from their 1-0 defeat to Tunisia in the final group game when several players were rested, they have scored at least two goals in every match and boast the tournament’s joint top scorer in Kylian Mbappe, who has scored five goals.
Morocco can take encouragement from France’s defensive record though, as they have conceded a single goal in all five matches. Morocco may not be able to create chances with the frequency England did, as France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris was forced to make seven saves in that match, but if Morocco are patient enough, they are likely to create one or two key chances on the counter-attack.
France being able to come through that quarter-final was testament to the mentality Didier Deschamps has installed in his team. After going all the way in the 2018 World Cup in Russia, they won the Nations League in 2021. They have also progressed to the last four here without some key players, including Karim Benzema, Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante, but with Giroud, Aurelien Tchouameni and Adrien Rabiot stepping in, they have shown they have the depth to combat this.
The fact France have been leaking goals at the tournament means there is value in betting on both teams to score at 2.31 with Bet9ja. This France team seem to have the attacking talent to beat even the toughest of defences, and you can get odds of 3.10 on France to win by one and 4.80 on France to win by two.
Bet9ja odds (at time of writing): France win: 1.58, Draw: 3.90, Morocco win: 7.20
