* “Let’s hope ours are as good as Monsieur Letexier was” — in reference to the ref who officiated the match between Egypt and Argentina
* As Morocco and France face each other in a FIFA World Cup™ repeat following Les Bleus’ semifinal win in Qatar 2022
* Morocco don’t have the profile of Paraguay. We will need to be very effective because this Morocco is of very high quality—coach Didier Deschamps
Maravi Express
France coach Didier Deschamps has insisted he is not concerned by the all-appointment Argentinian referees to officiate their FIFA World Cup™ 2026 quarter-final against Morocco tonight (22h00), saying: “We have to deal with it.”
“I trust the referees — our opponent is Morocco, not the referee,” he said in a press briefing ahead of the match, which is a repeat of their meeting of the FIFA World Cup™ Qatar 2022 in which France won 2-0.
The semifinal back in 2022
The France head coach, though, is not a natural diplomat. This was a characteristically combative display from Deschamps, who spent at least 90 seconds at the end of his press conference explaining why he really did not have time to answer one final question, before reluctantly answering, grumpily.
He could not resist a jibe at those, many in the north African media, who had criticised the French official — François Letexier’s performance during the last-16 game between Argentina and Egypt on Tuesday.
“Let’s hope ours are as good as Monsieur Letexier was,” he said and was also scornful of questions from a Moroccan journalist about a penalty that might have been awarded for a possible foul on Sofiane Boufal in the Qatar semifinal between the sides in 2022.
François Letexier in the match between Egypt and Argentina
Integrity has been a recurring theme recently and the appointment of Facundo Tello to referee the game with two Argentinian assistants, an Argentinian reserve assistant and an Argentinian fourth official raised eyebrows.
Argentina were outraged by a – widely misconstrued – comment from Kylian Mbappé before the last tournament about European successes at recent World Cups, which in part provoked a racist chant that formed part of their victory celebrations after the final in Doha. The years since have been characterised by pointed remarks from both sides.
“There’s been a certain bitterness for a few years now since the last final, but that’s part of the game,” said France’s reserve goalkeeper Robin Risser, although he sought to play down an issue that has erupted on social media. “If these referees are there, it’s because they’re up to the level of the competition.”
Advertisement
At the same time, the repercussions of the bruising last-16 win against Paraguay have carried on, with Celeste Amarilla, a senator for Paraguay’s Liberal Radical party, deleting social media posts in which she racially abused Mbappé, whose penalty won the game for France.
But she demanded an apology for the Real Madrid forward dismissing her as “a despicable woman” who was “unworthy of your position”.
The Paraguayan government and FIFA condemned Amarilla, and French prosecutors are investigating.
France’s players had shown remarkable self-control against Paraguay, and their federation had indicated its disdain for the machinations that led to the USA forward Folarin Balogun’s one-match ban for his red card against Bosnia & Herzegovina being suspended by appealing against a yellow card shown to Michael Olise.
The Bayern Munich forward was booked after the Paraguay midfielder Matías Galarza threw himself to the ground clutching his face when replays clearly showed Olise had done no more than grab his shirt.
Didier Deschamps
Deschamps confirmed, though, that FIFA has said the yellow card stands; there was no invoking of article 27 of the disciplinary code as there had been in the case of Balogun, seemingly after the intervention of Donald Trump.
France’s head coach was keen to underline how difficult an opponent Morocco will be: “They don’t have the profile of Paraguay. We will need to be very effective because this Morocco is of very high quality.
“The level rises as you climb the mountain. Mindset doesn’t win matches but it can make you lose them.”
Given he will leave the France job after this tournament, the quarter-final could be Deschamps’ farewell: “The goal is to do everything to make sure it goes well — that is the only thing driving me.”
Morocco coach, Mohamed Ouahbi, meanwhile, was reluctant to claim too much credit for what his Morocco side has achieved so far.
“I don’t like this feeling that we can say what we have done is great and everything now is a bonus,” he said. “We have to think about winning this game. The only bonus is winning the World Cup.”
Coach Mohamed Ouahbi
Like Deschamps – although in a far more gracious way – he dismissed the significance to this game of that semi-final four years ago: “The Morocco side and the France side have both evolved — and the level of both is improved compared to four years ago.”
Most of Ouahbi’s press conference, in fact, was spent playing down suggestions everything is stacked against Morocco, emphasising that they have travelled roughly six times as far as France so far, but as Ouahbi pointed out, that was the result of a random draw and, to an extent, they have paid a price for finishing second in their group.
Morocco have looked impressive en-route to the last eight, easing through the group phase before battling past the Netherlands in the last 32 and swatting aside Canada in the round of 16 last weekend.
The Atlas Lions will threaten France with a mix of technical quality, physicality and tactical nous under the guidance of Ouahbi, who masterminded Morocco’s shock victory in the Under-20 World Cup last year.
After a month of scintillating action that has dispelled pre-tournament anxieties over sky-high ticket prices and geopolitics, the biggest, boldest and most logistically complex World Cup ever staged has been whittled down to eight teams.
Les Bleus have surged into the last eight in style, scoring 14 goals in five games – seven of them from in-form captain Kylian Mbappe.
Kylian Mbappe
Mbappe is one of four star strikers who are leading the chase for the World Cup’s Golden Boot as the tournament enters the home stretch.
Argentina’s Lionel Messi tops the scoring chart with eight, Mbappe and Norway’s Erling Haaland have seven each and England’s Harry Kane has six.
The winner tonight will advance to a semifinal showdown against the victor of Friday’s tie in Los Angeles between European champions Spain and Belgium.
The Spaniards eliminated Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal in the last 16 on Monday to advance with a clinical 1-0 victory — and while La Roja haven’t hit the dizzying attacking heights of France, they will fancy their chances of navigating a Belgium side who have slowly built momentum over the course of the tournament.
Belgium struggled through the group phase with lacklustre draws in their first two matches before routing New Zealand 5-1 to secure their place in the knockout rounds.
They came back from the dead in the last 32 to beat Senegal 3-2, when they had trailed 2-0 with four minutes to go, before dismantling the United States 4-1 with arguably their best display of the tournament in Seattle on Monday.
On the other side of the draw, holders Argentina face Switzerland in Kansas City on Saturday after staggering into the quarterfinals.
The South Americans, aiming to become the first back-to-back champions since Brazil in 1962, were given an almighty scare by Cape Verde in the last 32 before winning 3-2 in extra-time.
Qatar 2022 was Argentina’s third World Cup success, following on from 1978 and 1986
On Tuesday, Messi inspired an incredible Houdini act in a jaw-dropping 3-2 defeat of Egypt in Atlanta, when the reigning champions recovered from 2-0 down with 11 minutes of normal time remaining to snatch victory.
The winner of Argentina-Switzerland will face either Norway or England in the semifinals while England advanced to the last eight on Sunday with a pulsating 3-2 defeat of Mexico in the Azteca Stadium — winning an extraordinary, drama-filled contest which has given the Three Lions renewed belief in their bid to win a first major title since 1966.
England’s talismanic midfield star Jude Bellingham says the victory reinforced his belief that the Three Lions can claim the ultimate prize – and wants his teammates to feel the same.
“I’m convinced of it and I hope that a win like this can give them that same conviction that they’re top players and we shouldn’t fear anyone,” Bellingham said.
Blocking England’s path is a formidable Norway side spearheaded by the irrepressible Haaland, who scored both goals in Sunday’s last 16 win over Brazil.—Reporting by The Guardian & SuperSport; editing by Maravi Express
Knockout stages results
Round of 32
* South Africa 0-1 Canada
* Jordan 1-3 Argentina
* Brazil 2-1 Japan
* Germany 1(3)-1(4) Paraguay
* Netherlands 1(2)-1(3) Morocco
* Côte d’Ivoire 1-2 Norway
* France 3-0 Sweden
* Mexico 2-0 Ecuador
* England 1-2 DR Congo
* Belgium 3-2 Senegal
* USA 2-0 Bosnia & Herzegovina
* Spain 3-0 Austria
* Portugal 2-1 Croatia
* Switzerland 2-0 Algeria
* Australia 1(2)-1(4) Egypt
* Argentina 3-2 Cape Verde
* Colombia 1-0 Ghana
Round of 16
* Canada 0-3 Morocco
* Paraguay 0-1 France
* Brazil 1-2 Norway
* Mexico 2-3 England
* Portugal 0-1 Spain
* USA 1-4 Belgium
* Argentina 3-2 Egypt
* Switzerland 0(4)-0(3) Colombia
Quarterfinals
Today, July 9
* Morocco v France (22h00)
Tomorrow, July 10
* Belgium v Spain (21h00)
* Norway v England (23h00)
* Argentina v Switzerland (03h00)
Semifinals
Tuesday, July 14
Morocco/France v Belgium/Spain
Wednesday, July 15
* Norway/England v Argentina/Switzerland
Advertisement