France defeated Morocco 2-0 in the first of this year’s World Cup quarterfinals. Here are four players who stood out from the match.
Losing Team Jersey Swap: Yassine Bounou
Without an official rooting interest, we will use this space — customarily reserved for a Bayern or Germany opponent of the day — to recognize the top effort on the losing team’s side.
In this case it could only be Bounou. A penalty save, a fingertip deflection, and more key interventions kept France from pasting his team in the first half. As it was, the inevitability could not be denied, but Bounou put it off for as long as he could.
Der Kaiser: Dayot Upamecano
We’ll forgive Upamecano for slicing that clearance that almost could have ended up in his own net. The Bayern Munich center-back was a defensive beast, providing a sense of stability against a Morocco attack that, in fairness, barely tried to assert itself outside of the odd transition. When they did try to send a ball in behind, Upamecano was there to charge it down and snuff out the chance.
The Bayern man was also highly involved in the build-up, even making 17 touches in the attacking third.
Fußballgott: Michael Olise
While France’s starting midfielders Manu Koné and Adrien Rabiot had decent turns at involving themselves, it was Michael Olise from the No. 10 position that dictated most of the proceedings.
Olise was his usual composed, smooth self, roving all over the pitch and demanding to be on the ball. Olise played threatening balls from everywhere, at one point battling through shirt-tugs and pants-tugs while triple-teamed by a Morocco defense that decided early on that max numbers back would be the way to go…and still couldn’t be stopped. The Futi app provides a nice measure of Olise’s centrality to the game relative to the two central midfielders by virtue of the involvement statistic, where Olise (12% invovement, 26 phases won, 11 lost) bests both Koné (8%-3-5) and Rabiot (9%-13-6) by significant margins.
The Bayern man missed his chance to land on the score sheet by curling high and wide in his best look at goal, although the game was already 2-0 by then, done and dusted in all practical senses.
Der Bomber: Ousmane Dembélé
That 2-0 was courtesy of winger Ousmane Dembélé, who, combining with Kylian Mbappé, dribbled through the center and beat both the nearest defender, Noussair Mazraoui, and keeper Bounou with an excellent shot from range. The cushion was vital to breaking Morocco’s spirit and afforded France the chance to even fall asleep slightly — giving up a few meters of space too many on a pass here, a set piece there — as the game dragged to its conclusion.
Here’s another look at that goal:
Meister of the Match: Kylian Mbappé
Who else? World Cup Mbappé is something else. After hitting 10 goal involvements in 2022, Mbappé just eclipsed that mark with his quickfire goal and assist. He’s now sitting on 8G+3A. For all of France’s dominance in a game that, mind you, was nearly 50-50 possession, it still required a moment or two of magic, and Mbappé supplied that. As timid as his penalty run-up and miss was in the first half, his half stutter-step to carve out time and space in a region of the fabric where there was none to be had was pure, mesmerizing brilliance.
When Mbappé’s on the field, France knows it is never more than a blink away from putting the game away. Once again, Mbappé reigned supreme.
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