00:00Four years ago in Qatar, Morocco walked out for a World Cup semi-final as the neutral's darling,
00:06the team that had already shut out Belgium, Spain, and Portugal on the way there.
00:10France ended that fairy tale with a clinical 2-0 win and went on to lift the trophy.
00:16On Thursday, the same two sides meet again, one round earlier this time, in the quarterfinals
00:22at Gillette Stadium, and there is a genuine sense that Morocco still owes someone a receipt.
00:27This isn't a rematch anyone is treating casually. Whoever wins walks straight into a semi-final
00:33against the Spain-Belgium survivor, and both camps know precisely what's riding on 90 minutes,
00:39maybe more. This is no longer a plucky underdog story either. Morocco arrive unbeaten through
00:46five matches under a new head coach, built around several of the same faces who broke hearts in
00:52Qatar. France arrive as the tournament's most ruthless side by a distance, perfect through
00:57the group stage, the leading scorers in the competition, and only recently shown to have
01:02any nerves at all. A win here would send Les Bleus to a third consecutive World Cup semi-final,
01:09a feat only two other nations have ever managed, and it would extend an unbeaten run in competitive
01:15fixtures that now stretches to twelve matches. Morocco, for their part, have never treated this
01:21tournament as a nostalgia tour. They came to finish what 2022 started. How they got here. France have
01:27barely broken a sweat for most of this World Cup. A flawless group campaign, wins over Senegal, Iraq,
01:34and Norway, was followed by a stylish, one-sided 3-0 dismantling of Sweden in the round of 32.
01:42Then came Paraguay, and suddenly this looked like a different French team altogether. Frustrated by a
01:48well-drilled, niggly opponent and some shaky officiating, Les Bleus needed a 70th-minute
01:53penalty from Kylian Mbappe just to scrape past 1-0. It wasn't a classic, but for a side some felt
02:00hadn't been properly examined yet, that afternoon in the trenches may end up mattering more than any
02:06of the routes that came before it. Morocco's route has been the story of a team refusing to be rattled
02:12by
02:12anything. A draw with Brazil, a hard-fought win over Scotland, and a 4-2 shootout with Haiti got them
02:19out
02:19of their group in second place. The round of 32 brought a tense, goalless stalemate against the
02:25Netherlands, a side plenty of pundits had fancied to go all the way, settled only on penalties.
02:31Beating a team that several pre-tournament models had pegged as legitimate title contenders was the
02:37moment that changed how neutrals talk about this Morocco squad. Then, in the round of 16, Morocco
02:44delivered their most complete display of the tournament, brushing aside co-hosts Canada 3-0
02:49behind a brace from Ezzedine Unahi and a late finish from substitute Soufiane Rahimi. Canada's
02:56manager Jesse Marsh left the pitch insisting his side had been the better team for long stretches.
03:02The scoreline said otherwise, and that gap between performance and result is exactly the kind of
03:08ruthlessness Morocco have built this run on. A referee nobody can stop talking about, as if the
03:13football itself wasn't enough of a draw. FIFA has handed everyone something extra to argue about.
03:19Argentine official Facundo Tello has been appointed to take charge, backed by an entirely Argentine team
03:26of assistants, the first time this tournament that every official in the middle has come from a single
03:31country. Given that Argentina are still alive in the competition and could theoretically meet the
03:37winner of this very fixture, the appointment set social media alight within minutes of being announced,
03:43with accusations of favoritism flying from more than one direction. It doesn't help Tello's case
03:48that he has previous history with Morocco. He was the referee who sent off Waleed Chedira during their
03:542022 quarterfinal win over Portugal. FIFA's explanation is that this is simply how the rotation works.
04:02Officiating crews are routinely drawn from one nation as long as that nation's own team isn't involved in
04:08the match. It's also worth remembering this cuts both ways. A French referee took charge of Argentina's
04:14bad-tempered win over Egypt just days ago, a game the Egyptian Federation has since formally complained about.
04:21Inside both camps, the players have tried to rise above the noise. France's Diot Upamecano waved away
04:28questions about the officials entirely, and backup goalkeeper Robin Risser made a similar point about
04:34staying professional rather than paranoid, easier said than done probably, in a tournament that has
04:40already burned France once this week over a disciplinary decision, walking a disciplinary tightrope.
04:46That earlier controversy centers on Michael Olisse, and the timing could not be worse. Booked in
04:53stoppage time against Paraguay after a coming together with Matias Galarza, replays suggested
04:58barely any contact was made. Olisse is now one caution away from missing a possible semi-final.
05:05The French Federation formally appealed to have the card wiped. FIFA rejected it on Wednesday, meaning
05:11Olisse has to survive Thursday without a second yellow. He isn't the only one in that position.
05:17Bradley Barkola and Manu Kone were both booked in the same game. Kone's situation carries extra weight
05:24because he's also the man expected to step into midfield if Aurelian Chuameni isn't ready. Chuameni has
05:31been nursing a thigh injury since before the Paraguay match and remains a genuine doubt, with assistant
05:37coach Guy Stéphane unable to offer much certainty even this close to kickoff. Marcus Thuram is
05:43carrying a thigh concern of his own. Morocco have their own fitness questions too. Ismael Saibari,
05:50impressive through the groups, was withdrawn early against Canada with a hamstring strain,
05:55while doubts linger over centre-back Chadi Riyad's readiness to return.
05:59The players who can decide it? Mbappe leads the tournament with seven goals,
06:03edging Lionel Messi slightly in the race for the Golden Boot, and he remains the one player Morocco
06:09cannot afford to switch off against for even a second. Ousmane Dembele, playing this tournament
06:15fresh off winning the Ballon d'Or, has partnered him superbly up front with four goals of his own,
06:21but the individual story of this World Cup for France might actually belong to Olisse. Five assists
06:28already, the most by anyone in a single tournament since 1994, and just one short of the all-time record
06:35Pelé set in 1970. For a player still writing his first World Cup chapter, that's an absurd rate of
06:42production, and exactly why his disciplinary trouble matters so much heading into Thursday.
06:48Desiree Due has quietly added to the danger too, drawing the stoppage-worthy penalty that Mbappe
06:54converted against Paraguay. One more reminder that this French front line has almost too many ways to
07:00hurt an opponent. Morocco aren't short of storylines of their own. Akraf Hakimi continues to lead from the
07:07back as captain, Brahim Diaz already holds the record for most World Cup assists by an African player,
07:13and Unahi has now scored in consecutive knockout rounds. There's a sharper edge to this one too.
07:1918-year-old Ayub Bouaddi, born and raised an hour outside Paris and caped for France at every youth
07:27level, turned down Les Blues to represent his parents' country instead. He'll line up against
07:32the national team he once wore the shirt of, arguably the most emotionally loaded subplot of the entire
07:38round. Win or lose, Thursday is only one bracket of a rapidly emptying draw. Spain host Belgium for the
07:46other semi-final spot on this side of the tournament on Friday, while Norway face England, and Argentina
07:52meet Switzerland on the other side over the following days. Whoever gets through won't have long to find
07:58out who's waiting for them in the last four, and if Spain do their part, a mouth-watering France-Spain
08:04semi-final is suddenly very much on the table. For a tournament that has produced fewer genuine shocks
08:10than usual this deep into the draw, Thursday in Boston might be the clearest chance left for one.
08:16Whatever happens, this feels bigger than a normal last eight tie. Four years of unfinished business
08:22finally getting a second telling. Tactically, expect a heavyweight version of what Morocco have done
08:28all tournament. Sit compact, invite the pressure, and look to hurt France on the turnover. The difference
08:34is that France's front line has the individual quality to unlock a low block without needing
08:39a mistake to help them, and a back line of Koundé, Saliba, and Upamecano that has been trusted to play
08:46a high line all summer without being properly punished for it. Morocco will make it uncomfortable,
08:52and there's a real chance this one drags into extra time before anybody blinks. But with the firepower
08:58France have available right now, and Morocco needing everything to go right at once, I'm backing Les Blues
09:04to find a way through late and win it 2-1.
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