Boston World Cup news: It’s Morocco vs. France to finish in Foxborough
Morocco and France are headed back to Foxborough, with a spot in the World Cup semifinals on the line Thursday afternoon.
Saturday’s pair of round-of-16 matches determined the pairing for the seventh and final tournament game at Gillette Stadium, and the result is both a meeting of world powers and a rematch from four years ago in Qatar.
In Houston, the Moroccans recovered from a sloppy first half to decisively put away co-host Canada, 3-0. France then needed nearly 70 minutes to crack the Paraguayan defense which ousted Germany last week, but finally did so via a Kylian Mbappé penalty, then hung on to win, 1-0, in Philadelphia.
Each team has been based in the Northeast — France at Bentley University in Waltham, Morocco outside of Newark — and played in Foxborough during the group stage. Morocco’s Ismael Saibari scored just 70 seconds into The Atlas Lions’ second match, the lone goal of a 1-0 victory over Scotland on June 19. The following Friday, Les Blues clinched Group I with a definitive 4-1 victory over Norway, which essentially conceded the result by sitting its starters. (Norway can reach the quarters on Sunday, but will need to beat five-time champions Brazil.)
It’s the highest-powered matchup of the tournament so far by world ranking — France was No. 3 in FIFA’s final pre-Cup numbers, Morocco No. 7. It’s also a rematch from the 2022 semifinals, when Achraf Hakimi largely contained Mbappé, but France still won, 2-0, to end Morocco’s run as the first African semifinalist.
Kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.
Credit: Source link