France to end Morocco's winning streak tonight, says experts

SHAH ALAM - France is favourites to win tonight’s semi-final match against Morocco, ending the African team’s surprising journey of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar this year.

All The Footy Forum panellists in tonight’s live preview show, namely Former Malaysia Football Association (FAM) Technical Director Peter De Roo, Former Malaysia National Football Development Programme (NFDP) Technical Director Saad Ichalalene and editor Haresh Deol, agreed that France would beat Morocco in tomorrow’s early morning fight.

Despite wishing for a fairytale ending for the Moroccans adventure, Haresh said they needed to look at the reality of things.

“It is amazing that the team has pretty much united so many people in so many ways but France deserve to be in the final,” he said.

De Rio meanwhile said the Moroccan team displayed great attitude but France hardly has any weak spots.

“The players have been displaying absolute examples of good attitude but also keeping control of their behaviour and have been extremely focused.

“But in the end, I think the lack of scoring ability and the fact that France has hardly any weak spots I think at some point they will find the gap,” he added.

Echoing the two panellists’ views, Saad agreed that French would finally put an end to Morocco’s winning streaks doubting the Moroccan team’s fitness level matched that of their rivals.

“The level of fitness is something that has been talked about. Then today, again, the (Morocco) coach said, ‘we are not tired. This is the second time he said that.

“Usually if you have to say that and to repeat it, it shows that maybe you are not that confident,” he said.

However, The Footy Forum’s host Rizal Hashim remained optimistic about that Morocco - the first African country in history to make it into the semi-finals.

He predicted that the Moroccans would win 2-0 on penalties.

“Anything is possible but maybe the match will be determined by a penalty shoot-out and Morocco to win again,” he said.

The two countries is set to play at 3am Malaysian time tomorrow at Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor. It is the second semi-final match, first being Argentina against Croatia.

Since the tournament started, Morocco has managed to neutralise Spain and Portugal with relative ease. This stands as Morocco had a reasonable shot against France, their former colonisers.