France maul meek Morocco to reach semi-finals: World Cup Daily

0:00John Brewin:This is The Guardian.

0:30the economies of the countries involved in this World Cup as it unfolds. So this is one for economics fans who happen to be into football, football fans who happen to be into economics. That's all on the David McWilliams podcast.

0:51This episode is supported by BOSS, formal wear provider for the US men's national soccer team. For soccer's biggest event this summer, the US is playing on home soil and BOSS will be dressing the US players and coach Maurizio Pochettino in BOSS Performance business wear for their off-pitch appearances. BOSS and the USMNT share the same values, discipline, precision and the confidence to perform under pressure. US fans can look sharp too in the BOSS Performance collection and wear their passion with special fan wear capsule and embroidered badges in national colours. Own the moment with confidence, discover the BOSS Performance collection as worn by the US men's national soccer team and the fan capsule of jerseys, polos and jackets in national colours.

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1:45Hello and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly. Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele sink Morocco. Mbappe had missed a penalty and put a chance over the bar, but his finish was absolutely perfect. Just enough bend to start outside the post and nestle in the corner. And then Dembele, who'd been largely anonymous, just picked up the ball, ran and side-footed it home. Bono, great up until then, got one glove on it, but it wasn't enough. Not a game that will last long in the memory and a bit of a flat end for Morocco. The last African team out of the tournament, there was no desperation, almost as if they were okay with the quarterfinal or maybe they just couldn't compete.

2:15We'll look ahead to tomorrow, Spain versus Belgium. Spain yet to concede a goal. Momentum with Belgium? Barry has one page of notes on this. There's the latest from England. Quants are out for two matches and Dan Byrne's Harland record. We'll answer your questions, and that's today's Guardian Football Weekly. On the panel today, with me in New York City, Barry Glendening, welcome. Hello, Max.

2:34Max Rushden:You've put me under a tremendous amount of pressure by divulging the information that I have an entire page of all. I know, it's big stuff, isn't it? Spain, Belgium. I suspect that's why most people are tuning in today. John Bruin, welcome. Thank you. You're like the Ivan Tony, the finisher. Yes, well, New York City, another modern reference here.

2:54John Brewin:the film crocodile dundee oh yeah when i walk around new york city i feel like mick dundee and i say hello to everybody and so is it at one point will you be at one end of the two platform and barry at the other and then they'll carry you over the uh all the commuters to reach each other at the end barry i love you yes exactly and uh in paris bonjour ça va philippe au clair ça va très bien mon cher max let's start then with france 2 morocco nil uh we watched it in a sports bar where the volume was a little bit too loud and it did have a love island watch party at 7 30 p.m which might actually been more interesting than a lot of that of that football match but let's start in paris what's how is because obviously there's a massive moroccan community in paris so what's the i know you're not on you're not at the champs elise right now but what's the what's the

3:42Philippe Auclair:vibe no uh it was actually really good fun and um all the bars were absolutely packed there were flags absolutely everywhere people wearing um loads of french shirts around loads of moroccan shirts around absolutely zero problem by the way and uh a very good atmosphere i think that the atmosphere was better than the game to be absolutely honest and uh people dancing people singing and now there's car's hoop you know hooting in the street you might hear a few actually a bit later on. And, you know, people just enjoying what was a regulation win that didn't come with an awful lot of jeopardy, didn't feel like anything tense or anything like that, but a job well done for France and what can you say?

4:30Philippe Auclair:I mean, I've only just arrived in Paris and I have to say I'm surprised by one thing. There seems to be more enthusiasm for the World Cup in France at the moment than there is in England, where I've just come from, which is unusual. Usually it's the opposite. Can I ask, Philippe, what's it like to have a painless, stress-free knockout game in a World Cup? It's very pleasant. And it felt that way from... But to be honest, most of the games have been pain-free for France so far. Either it's been very easy or, you know, maybe there was the Senegal game, which was a little bit... We didn't quite know what to expect of this French team.

5:09Philippe Auclair:you will remember that, you know, I had quite a lot of reservations about this particular team, its midfield and its defence in particular. And both of them have not been found wanting so far. And yeah, I mean, stress-free games are actually, you know, especially you're talking to an Arsenal fan. So basically somebody who lives in fear most of the time. And it's actually very pleasant. I do recommend it. And it was fairly obvious that Morocco would sit back try to smother the French attacks, hit them on the counter, but that it wouldn't quite be enough and the chances came quite regularly and you knew that something was going to happen.

5:53Philippe Auclair:Even when Kylian Mbappe missed this penalty, I think I didn't feel particularly nervous and nobody around me felt nervous either. So it's actually quite, quite strange because I was expecting a much tougher game than this one. I was expecting Morocco to be actually much more proactive than they were. And in fact, as soon as they conceded the first goal, it was a game over, basically, which very, very, very unexpected from that side. Actually, I think that is quite interesting, Barry, that obviously we'll talk about the French attack and stuff. But Morocco, there was just no desperation. You know, there was just, by the time it was 2-0, they were just like, well, quarterfinals, fine.

6:31Maybe they're just not as good. and so they couldn't do it. But I just didn't see any sign of anyone giving a shit. I mean, that's probably going too far.

6:39Max Rushden:I don't think it is. There was no urgency whatsoever. I thought the big sell under this iteration of Morocco under Mohamed Ouabi was that they were a more proactive, more attacking team than the one that played quite successfully under his predecessor, Rugrugi. and there was no sign of that today, and I can hear people screaming already, well, you can't play like that against France. Well, you might as well give it a go if you're going to go out with a whimper, as they have 2-0 without laying a glove on France whatsoever. You know, at least go down swinging haymakers and give it a rattle. I don't know how much the absence of Ismail Sabiri affected Morocco.

7:29Max Rushden:Rocco, he's been brilliant for them up to now, and he was obviously a big loss. France had four or five good chances in the first half. Didn't score any of them, including the penny. It was a really lame upper Meccano header. Dembele had a shot. Someone hit the post. Dini hit the post. Dewey had that one palmed wide. Yeah, yeah. So they had the chances, but when they scored the first one, you're kind of thinking, yeah, Mbappe scored that grand. and then it was hard to see Morocco coming back from that and then when they scored the second one a few minutes later, two quite similar goals really.

8:08That was it, game over. And actually, John, Mbappe, it is that cliche about a striker that doesn't ruminate on missed chances because he missed the penalty and it was a terrible penalty. He had to wait for a long time, of course. Then he had that chance, I think at least he had run through and he spooned it over and he thought, well, maybe he just won't have a great day, but the finish is just perfect.

8:27John Brewin:Can I point out at this time that I told you you would miss the penalty? You can, yeah. Yes, because of that delay. We've got the conspiracy theorists going, didn't we? Yeah, it's the speculation that there was some sort of equalising going on from the refereeing community after the Argentina, Egypt stuff. And this idea that maybe one of the big boys is going to have to take a hit. and there was a delay over an incident where there was clearly not a foul in the build-up to that penalty by a French player and it just went on and on and on and then he had to reset the penalty a couple of times and he missed it but as you say Max when it actually came to doing what Mbappe does the goal was absolutely superb now this was my first exposure to Fox Soccer which was fine coverage they did keep talking about how much the French players and Moroccan players knew each other.

9:24John Brewin:Issa Diop and... Bampai basically grew up living together by the end. Basically grew up in the same house by the sounds of things. But Philippe may be able to speak to this a little bit. I suppose that question of fellowship, would that change the competitiveness of this game? Because I think Morocco have given other teams a bit more needle and got stuck in a bit more and it just felt... You know, there are certain teams when they come against each other let's not call it an inferiority complex, but a certain complex about the other team. And it felt like, okay, this is what France are going to do to us.

9:57Which I guess, Philippe, could work both ways. I sort of thought because of, you know, the Moroccan diaspora and, you know, the number of Moroccan players of French descent, et cetera, and vice versa, that there would be more needle in this game. But I think John has a point.

10:10Philippe Auclair:Yeah, it was a bit odd. And also because, you know, you have to go back to 2022 as well. Yeah. you know and and the semi-final so there there are all the reasons you can imagine uh even if um the history of france's relationship with morocco is very different uh from france's relationship with algeria for example where i can assure you that it would be there would be a lot of needle in that one and morocco is a little bit different in in that case but it was a bit odd. It felt like they were resigned to their fate from very early on in the game. Perhaps because I don't know, maybe it's a silly theory, but could it be that the instructions they were given, which was defend deep, hit them in the counter, were actually instructions that the players didn't care much for?

11:02Philippe Auclair:They did it, but their heart was not in it, and maybe they didn't think, maybe that's not the right way to do it, because that Moroccan team which is now the best team in Africa we all know that which is established as one of the of actually we could call it a football power worldwide um has actually evolved um since 2022 as John was saying and as Barry was saying as well as as a team that is playing more creating more expressing more and we didn't see that at all I'm wondering if there was not an an element of well if that's the way that's the way i i it was a disappointment i must say and the fact that there was there was no needle and by the way if we talk about the referee i thought he was absolutely excellent he was terrific um teo um but um you know which also maybe i put pay to uh a few conspiracy theories that i've seen circling around in the net and on some whatsapp groups um one of which i'm a member of in which people are saying absolutely pulling things about referees in this world cup but there you go um yeah but anyway it's it's a bit strange we're all talking about what was a quarter final of the world cup and we're talking about it as if it were some kind of festival game pre-season and that nobody really cared about it even the celebrations at the end you know you celebrate but they were not yeah i suppose there was no relief

12:28John Brewin:there was no like oh we've done it there was a snapshot wasn't the towel be breaking down the left and just turning and saying anybody you know is anybody gonna be with me and i agree with philip actually the um the celebration of france were a bit muted and then we were watching the moroccan where hakimi goes in the middle and gave them the you know we've all done great lads right enjoy your summer it felt because like if and when we if and when england are knocked out there'll be tears They'll be on the horses. They'll be montages.

12:58Max Rushden:If Barney was here, I would probably say France did more than enough. Right, I see. Okay. But you talk about the complete lack of needle. There was one saucy challenge, which was Issa Diop on Mbappe. His old pal, old mucker. Old friendships were very much put to one side on that occasion. But that's the only one I can really remember. Yeah. I think you're right. And then you look, France didn't look like they were playing brilliantly, but Mbappe does something brilliant. Dembele does something brilliant. Elise does a couple of runs. And they do just, even if they play a match in the semi-final, they're not brilliant.

13:37They have those elite players who can just score, which is helpful. This is from Cape Town Gouna. Philippe says, bonjour savoir. Philippe in particular, where does this French attack rank in his list of best French attacks of all time? I think it's the best full stop.

13:52Philippe Auclair:I really do think it's the best full stop. Stéphane Givar, devastated to hear this. I cannot think of any other French attack which has had so much power. What was the 84 one? What was the Platini-Tigana? No, no, no, no, no. The midfield was much better in 84, 82, 86. There's no doubt about that. You could argue as well that the midfield was stronger in 98 and 2000. You could argue that the 2018 team, when you look at it, it still didn't quite have the same power I mean it's this wonderful image that you know Contact on Blue Sky just posted that to me and I thought this is absolutely brilliant in terms of explaining what is so special about this French attack and that person was likening the French front four to the great West Indian fast bowling quartets of the 1970s and 1980s it's a great comparison because each of them is better than the others in some respects and you know that if it's one of those four they've still got two or three on the back burner who are actually better than the other strikers that could be put on by the opposition so it gives you a sense of confidence which is extraordinary if you know you can, okay, Douay is not quite on song today, well we'll have Barcola, that's alright, Michael Phyllis is having a bit of a tough time.

15:20Philippe Auclair:Okay, let's have Ryan Shirky, perhaps. You know, and it goes on like that. You think, this is crazy. And we've never had this kind of depth. And we've had better balance. We have had better balanced teams. But we've never had in the attacking, if you take an attacking four, I don't think we've had anything like that before in our history. Yeah. You see off Ambrose and there's Courtney Walsh. It's that, isn't it? Yes, Baz?

15:44Max Rushden:Well, just regarding what we're perceiving to be Morocco's lack of effort, is there a case to be argued that they just don't care that much? They had AFCON back in March. And now they've had this. Now, anyone who wishes to draw parallels, they're welcome to leave. You know, it's this group of blokes who get on quite well, who've been forced to spend a load of time together without respite. Maybe they just, and they've, you know, we've got to the quarterfinal. That's okay. Are you saying this is your last pod? There's no shame in losing against France. It's fine. That's, you know. I don't know.

16:31Max Rushden:Just they're not that fussed. Because that's certainly the impression I got.

16:36John Brewin:it's the impression I've got as well Barry of this Ballardian life you lived down in Los Angeles you've only been here a day you can't be fed up John I know I'm bringing the positive vibes here I enjoyed Philippe's comparison or your friend's comparison I used to compare when Olysee played with Eze at Crystal Palace that was like watching West Indian cricket as well just that swing that they had you know as the rhythm that they were getting to absolutely fantastic and Philippe's right when I think of the great French teams of the 80s and 90s it was all about the midfield wasn't it the great players the greatest French players Platini Zidane they were midfield players weren't they and now that that and obviously you had Thierry of course who would be in the class of the players they've got now but this attack is just it's it's ludicrously good yeah I mean their defense is also good Michael Cox saying look they've barely conceded a proper chance in the knockout stage Sweden had a couple of half chances in the first half.

17:36That's more than Paraguay and Morocco. Their XG against is 0.7, 0.2, 0.1. But I mean, I don't know, Philippe, is that they don't have to do anything in the same way that Rabiot looks like he's playing brilliantly, but maybe he just doesn't have to do anything.

17:48Philippe Auclair:Well, he does quite a lot. And I am saying that. But he's doing quite a lot and he's doing it very well, I have to say. He's completely justifying his place in midfield. In fact, the game against Morocco, there was a stat, I don't know if it was also, you could see it on American television. But at the hour, when we came to the hour of play, the French expected goals that's before Bappé scored, by the way, was 2 for France, which is rather high, and Morocco was 0.06, which is abysmal. It's absolutely abysmal. And in fact, the only team that has created problems to France so far is Norway. I'm serious.

18:32Okay, yeah. It was France reserves, but still.

18:36Philippe Auclair:I mean, the reserves, Oscar Bob genuinely, I mean, I tried to watch this game as if it were a serious game and it was not a serious game in many ways. But the Norwegians, the B side of that hit single actually created some problems. And Oscar Bob in particular was in many cases unbalanced his French defense, but they did look very strong today. I still think Upamecano has got one big mistake in him, but it hasn't happened so far. And Kone Rabiot works better than Chouameni Rabiot, by the way. I think that's a big uptake because that was one of the questions, was the lack of form of Chouameni before the World Cup.

19:20Philippe Auclair:And I think that Deschamps has decided that he'd got his combination. And by the way, we should say, because the one time when we felt a little bit uneasy was when Kylian Mbappe left the field. Apparently, judging by what I'm reading from, you know, it's quite early or quite late. It should be okay. It's just basically a consequence of the knock that he had. It's a pain. It's not a muscular injury. So he should be fine for the semifinal against Belgium. Well, we'll get to those notes from Barry and see if it will be Belgium or Spain in just a second. That'll do for part one. We've got live shows coming up in September.

20:03Vicar Street in Dublin on the 1st. The Soho Theatre in Walthamstow on the 9th. Maybe there'll be a Mark Langdon meat raffle. He has yet to be confirmed for either. Has he been confirmed? I'm just looking around. Not yet. We don't know. But something to think about. The possibility of a meat raffle. Come along. Guardian.co.uk slash Football Weekly Live. That link can buy you tickets to the live stream of the London gig. and I think we're live streaming New York as well if you want to watch that one and we'll look ahead to Spain, Belgium in just a second. Hi Pod fans, Max here. Barry's here too.

20:35Hello. Global Weekly is supported by Gradient FC. Now Barry, with the World Cup underway, we know player performance will be under a microscope from superstars cementing legacies to upstarts vying for big summer transfers. But with 48 teams and up to six matches a day, it's hard to catch every moment and that is where the Gradient FC app shines. Their player rankings update daily during the World Cup so you know whose performances are trending up or down on the world stage. How does it work? Well, Gradient's rankings use the same grades trusted by clubs across Europe's top leagues for player recruitment.

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21:49How are you doing there? This is David from the David McWilliams podcast, the podcast that makes economics as comprehensible as possible. We are going to look at economics through the lens of the World Cup and a special World Cup economic series. We're going to look at countries, we're going to look at players, we're going to look at culture, but we're also going to look at the economies of the countries involved in this World Cup as it unfolds. So this is one for economics fans who happen to be into football, football fans who happen to be into economics. That's all on the David McWilliams podcast.

22:35Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly. What you've all been waiting for, the page of notes. Barry Glendening, do your best. Would you like me to just read them? Well, I'll stop you if I feel, if it's getting boring, but otherwise, here we go. But with the voice of Richard Attenborough, please. Oh, yeah. Richard Attenborough. David Attenborough, please. Well, you can Dickie or David. It doesn't matter.