France vs Morocco: Quarter Finals Begin! | Day 28 Preview | Morning Cupdate, Presented by The Home Depot

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0:35For experiences like no other, there's nothing like platinum. Learn more at AmericanExpress.com slash Explore-Platinum. Terms apply. Hello, guys. Good morning and welcome to Boston. Yes, we've left Atlanta and we are now here in beautiful Boston ahead of the first quarterfinal of this World Cup. but is France against Morocco? It is a big one and we're going to tell you everything that you need to know. This is your ultimate guide to day 28 of the World Cup.

1:08Hello and welcome to Morning Cup Day. I've had three lobster rolls and I'm ready to go. Built by the Home Depot, coming from the beautiful city of Boston. It is wonderful to be here, everybody. So nice. No, guys, guys, no. Not the bagpipes. The Scots have gone. The Tartan Army, they left weeks ago. Actually, I did see a couple of shirts around. There's some stragglers holding on. The Home Depot is your winning assist to host the ultimate watch party with fast free delivery to get your backyard match day ready, subject to availability. The quarterfinals are finally here. Just eight matches of the World Cup remain.

1:48But with the possible exception of the third place playoff, All of them will be box office. But before we look too far ahead, we've got the quarterfinals to come. Now, world champions Argentina had to produce a mighty comeback in stoppage time against Egypt on Tuesday to book their spot. They'll face Switzerland on Saturday evening, who beat Colombia on penalties. Before that, on Saturday, Norway face England and tomorrow Spain take on Belgium. Today, though, it should be an absolute classic. A repeat of the 2022 semifinal between France and Morocco in Qatar. World Cup! Oh yes, France won that 2-0, you might remember, but were pushed all the way by the Moroccans, who were appearing in their first ever semifinal.

2:31This afternoon, here in Boston, Morocco will be looking for revenge, of course. And whilst France are undoubtedly the favourites, write off the Moroccans at your peril. Against Canada, they survived an opening 15-minute onslaught from the co-hosts and then were ruthless on the counter-attack. A kind of ruthlessness that called for these kind of celebrations.

2:56France have had a brilliant tournament, of course, scoring 15 goals in their five games so far. That is quite impressive, isn't it? Most people will be backing them to make their third consecutive World Cup semi-final. Their 3-0 win over Sweden in particular was a masterclass in attacking football from the fearsome trio of Michael Alise, Usman Dembele, and you know that guy, Kylian Mbappe. Their last match, however, against Paraguay was a tough test, physically and also mentally. The first time we've seen them looking pretty uncomfortable. The South Americans went for the tactic of largely kicking lumps out of their opponents, remarkably picking up no yellow cards in the process.

3:35What? But in the end, France won 1-0 via Kylian Mbappe penalty. And after that, the outcome of that match was never really in doubt. So the question is, are there any lessons that Morocco can take from Paraguay's performance? Let's dive into it.

3:53Today's drill down brought to you by Makita is all about how Morocco could stop this fearsome France attack. Spain were the tournament favourites before a ball was even kicked, but now it's the French as a result of the scintillating football that we've been seeing from them out here in North America. Mbappe's goals have taken the spotlight, but Michael Alisse's five assists mean that he's just one away from equaling Pele's all-time single tournament record. Yet five days ago, Paraguay did come very close to stopping the French and it was brutally simple. A five-man defensive block that was compact and narrow blocking off the central channels that France rely on to create.

4:31France didn't register a single shot on target until the 55th minute and they recorded their lowest expected goals figure of the entire tournament. Here's Rory Smith on Night Cup saying why Paraguay's back line was impossible to get through. They just couldn't move through that Paraguayan back line because Paraguay was so unwilling to move. If you play with no ambition and you just have to keep your post, keep your line strong, you can be almost impossible to get through. The one slight caveat is I'd be interested to know what would have happened if it had been like 72 degrees and a little bit rainy.

5:06Rainy, you say. Well, I feel like on the back of that, I'm now forced to give you the weather forecast, aren't I? Hit the old school weather jazz. Hello and welcome to Morning Cup Date Weather with me, Betty Glover. I can tell you that in Boston, Massachusetts, this afternoon during France against Morocco, it is going to be sunny with some partial cloud cover. It's expected to be 91 degrees at kickoff with a light southwesterly wind with a very small chance of some isolated showers. How was that, guys? Producer George is rolling his eyes. In short, not quite as hot as it was in Philadelphia on Saturday.

5:43Still, though, Morocco might be tempted to adopt some of Paraguay's deep and compact defending. The one difference here is that Morocco have the quality to hurt France on the counter, which Paraguay very much didn't. Four years ago, Morocco conceded an early goal in that semifinal against France. It sent Morocco's defensive game plan out of the window. The bad news, though, for today, for Morocco, is that they're going to have to try and beat France without their star forward Ishmael Saibari. I mean, Saibari's a loss. If you take Messi and Mbappe out of it, I think Saibari's probably been the best player here.

6:15Saibari had to come off early on against Canada after pulling his hamstring. The good news, though, is that a serious injury has been ruled out, so fans are hopeful that if they manage to progress, he'll be able to play later in the tournament. It is a massive blow for them, though. He scored in all three group games and then thumped in the winning penalty during their round of 32 match against the Netherlands. Back up forward, Sofiane Rahimi scored twice off the bench in that match, but there is no denying that he's not as consistent or prolific as Saibari is. For France, they'll be hoping midfielder Chouameni can return following his thigh injury.

6:48He was a big miss for France in the Paraguay game, but this match against Morocco might come too soon for him to play the full 90 minutes. One other thing to look out for is that seven players are on a yellow card away from missing the semi-final, including France's Michael Alise and Morocco's Ashraf Hakimi. So keep your eyes on them. It'll be a fascinating match for sure. The match kicks off at 4pm Eastern Time. Let's dive into a few other headlines from the tournament. And this moment has become the latest controversy out here in North America.

7:31Pure passion on Argentinian TV as they completed their extraordinary comeback from 2-0 down against Egypt. I love in the background of that video, you can literally see Carlos Tevez and Sergio Aguero going wild there as well. It was a crazy turnaround, but it's also received quite a lot of backlash. The Egyptians were furious after Mustafa Zico had a lovely goal ruled out by VAR. Egypt also thought that Mo Salah was found in the Argentina penalty area seconds before the reigning champions broke for the stoppage time winner. Mustafa Zico had this to say after the match.

8:08You can understand his anger after being denied the goal of his life, can't you? Then on Wednesday, the Egyptian FA lodged a complaint with FIFA and won an investigation into double standards of officiating in the game in Atlanta. They also alleged the crime of discrimination against the Egyptian national team. FIFA are yet to comment at the time of recording this. Meanwhile, reaction still continues to flow after the USMNT's 4-1 defeat to Belgium on Monday night. A disastrous night for the team, tainting what had been such a positive tournament for the co-hosts. Here's Herc Gomez with a damning assessment of the opportunity missed for the USA.

8:44Now we're probably saying in the one moment when the world was watching, when you probably had close to 40 to 50 million Americans tuning in, you laid an egg. You buckled. And on Wednesday, Flo Baligan, the man at the center of the biggest storm the tournament has seen, posted a message on his Instagram. He didn't address the red card suspension saga, but he did say, I want to say sorry to our fans. It was not good enough when it mattered most and we let you down. He then added, I know the best days are in front of us. The future belongs to those who never stop believing. This moment will fuel us.

9:19We will be back. Has cruel fate smashed your dreams of footballing glory during this FIFA World Cup? Fear not. You're now a sporting free agent with your choice of squads, the opportunity to pick someone new, the teams with the catcher songs, the country you studied abroad in, the goalkeeper with the magnificent hair. When your team's gone, fun doesn't have to be. because on the Leyes bandwagon, every match is another excuse to grab a snack and pick a new favourite. There are no wrong answers, only good times and tasty snacks. So jump on and enjoy the rest of the tournament because Leyes keeps the party going and the bandwagon has never tasted better.

9:57Leyes, official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup 2026. Has cruel fate smashed your dreams of footballing glory during this FIFA World Cup? Fear not. You're now a sporting free agent with your choice of squads, the opportunity to pick someone new. The teams were the catcher songs, the country you studied abroad in, the goalkeeper with the magnificent hair. When your team's gone, fun doesn't have to be, because on the Leys bandwagon, every match is another excuse to grab a snack and pick a new favourite. There are no wrong answers, only good times and tasty snacks. So jump on and enjoy the rest of the tournament, because Leys keeps the party going, and the bandwagon has never tasted better.

10:37Lays, official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup 2026. And as the world arrives in the United States for the biggest spectacle in sports, we're going coast to coast, host city to host city to meet the world with the Men in Blazers Matchday Live Tour. These are free college game day style live events taking place just before kickoff at some of the biggest games of the summer where we'll be taking the stage with celebrity guests in front of thousands of fans. It's going to be amazing. Come and be with us in person or from afar on YouTube. And let's celebrate this some other way. It's meant to be celebrated.

11:14Just head to the events tab on meninblazers.com for all the details. To the football, to more together, courage.

11:25Tonight, the Night Cup is back after taking, well, one matchless day off. Rod and Rory will be live to break down the first quarterfinal match. You can catch it all over on YouTube. Now it's prediction time. Last time out, I took on Rory, and it was no correct predictions for either of us. So the score remains 9-8 to Morning Cup Dates. Yes. So today, just to, you know, try and get even more of a lead, I took on producer Kippo. Producer Kippo, thank you very much for joining us for predictions again. How are you feeling about your chances? I think at this point it's pretty evident why I've been brought back.

12:03We all need slump busters. I know you guys desperately need the points. We don't, actually. We're leading, but... Yeah, you're welcome. But we're going to turn that around. It's coming home to the night cup. We'll see how that goes. Okay, so we've got France against Morocco in the first of the four quarterfinals. I'm going to say this is going to be closer than some people think it will be. I think it's going to be France 2, Morocco 1. I think that's... I rate that, and... Do I have to wait? No, you can go. We just got some Boston lowriders rolling past us right now, which really puts me in a good mood.

12:38I think ultimately you're directionally correct. I also will go for a France win. I actually think it's going to be 3-1. I think France are a team frustrated. Paraguay, while it was not beautiful, sexy football, they tried to play the way they wanted to play, and I think France are going to be excited to have an opponent who they can play football against again. And when you get a France team who's open and willing to play football, I think we all know what that can look like. So respect to Morocco. I know they made the semifinals last time, but we're going France 3-1. Yeah, I think France is going to be that little bit too good, aren't they?

13:11I see them in the final. Kippo, thank you. Thank you so much, Betty. Good luck.

13:19On today's finishing touch brought to you by Bear Paint, is the final getting the full Super Bowl treatment? What? Yeah. No, a halftime show? Yeah, a halftime show. A halftime show? A halftime show. As well as Elmo and Coldplay, there's been a new signing. Here we go. Yes, thank you, Fabrizio. It has been announced that Canadian pop star Justin Bieber will co-headline a stacked halftime show in New Jersey. The singer joins the likes of Madonna, Shakira, BTS, Burner Boy and quite literally, the Muppets. While some viewers are happy to get into the groove... Get into the groove. Thanks, producer George.

13:57Many long-standing soccer disciples are left scratching their heads asking, What do you mean? I've run it after. What do you mean? To some traditionalists, this level of glitz is an unwelcome intrusion into the beautiful game. Anyone remember the final of the Club World Cup last year? The halftime show went on for so long, it delayed the second half. Whether you like the sound of this or not, we've got some good questions, I think, about the logistics. How on earth are all of these global megastars and an ensemble of puppets going to squeeze into a tight 11-minute window? By my calculations, each act will get roughly 40 seconds each.

14:35Then there's the backstage egos. Sharing a crowded stage is hard enough, but getting a material girl like Madonna to share a green room with a notoriously short-fused diva like Miss Piggy, it's a recipe for absolute chaos. This whole show is going to be about me. Good grief. Do you see what I mean? That is it for Morning Cup Day today, built by The Home Depot. The Home Depot is your winning assist to host the ultimate watch party with fast free delivery to get your backyard match day ready, subject to availability. Boston! Today is the day that we finish what the Tartan Army started. Our seventh stop on the Match Day Live Tour will commence at 1pm Eastern at the beautiful Marriott Long Wharf.

15:18Come and join us as Rog and Rory will take to the stage with World Series hero Pedro Martinez, World Cup champion Sam Muirz and Mayor Michelle Wu. It should be a very fun day, especially if you're looking to score a penalty and become the fourth winner of the World Cup final tickets with the Marriott Take Your Shot Challenge. Stick around after the show for the City of Boston's watch party as well for France and Morocco's quarterfinal match. You will not want to miss that. The link for more is in the notes below as always. And we are going to be back tomorrow, but enjoy the first quarterfinal, everyone.