France – Morocco

The French will fight hard to reach the semifinals.

The France national team arrived at the World Cup in North America as a well-oiled machine. The trio of attacking players, consisting of Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele, and Michael Olise, had already struck fear into their group-stage opponents and potential playoff rivals before taking the field. If one takes into account that the bench in Didier Deschamps' squad is often made up of Bradley Barcola and Désiré Doué, who won the last two Champions League titles with PSG, then there can be no doubt about bookmakers who consider the France national team the dominant favorite of the World Cup. Meanwhile, the French side could well hit a Moroccan brick wall. The North African team arrived at the world championship with some unprecedented figures in recent years. The Moroccan side hadn't lost in more than thirty of its recent fixtures. And even Achraf Hakimi's latest defeat was recorded in the Africa Nations Championship, to which prestigious national teams on this continent bring deep reserves. The Moroccans' results, including a fourth place at the World Cup in Qatar and a near-victory at the last Africa Cup of Nations, elevated Mohamed Ouahbi's team to the status of a dark-horse candidate for the world football crown. Bookmakers have made the French outright favourites for the match, offering odds of 1.59 on their victory. The France national team cruised through the group stage without serious tests, beating Senegal, Iraq and Norway. Only in the very first half of that stage did the French trail in play, as they took a while to settle into the match with Senegal. This is interesting because it was Senegal that faced Morocco in the final of the controversial Africa Cup of Nations, and the two can be compared in terms of quality. However, the Moroccans are far better equipped in terms of depth, with stars at almost every position in Ouahbi's squad who play for serious European clubs. In the Round of 16, Morocco, after testing themselves against Brazil and the Netherlands, nearly got into trouble, but in the second half re-evaluated their approach to the match against Canada and routed the hosts. Morocco will certainly give the tournament's favorite a run for its money.