France vs. Morocco: World Cup favourites in for their "biggest test" at 2026 tournament

Ahead of France's 2026 World Cup quarter-final with Morocco, Sports Mole's Senior Reporter Oliver Thomas discusses the competition favourites.

Oliver Thomas, Senior Reporter: "Their first real test at this World Cup'

I do think Morocco will probably offer France their first real test at this World Cup. 

Some may have thought that Senegal in the group stage could have caused them a few problems, but France got the job done there. 

Norway rested most of their team for the match-day three game, and we may never know how that matchup would have gone unless they both meet in the final. 

France were favourites against both Sweden and Paraguay and beat both as expected. They'll be favourites again against Morocco, but this represents their biggest test. 

This is of course a repeat of the 2022 semifinal between these two teams in Qatar, which France won 2-0. They scored an early goal in that one, a fifth-minute opener, and that settled the nerves. 

They took control of the game and forced Morocco to chase it so early on, which was not really in Morocco's game plan. Interestingly, France were happy to let Morocco come at them a bit and take the game to them.

France only had 39 percent possession in that match, which is their lowest ever recorded in a World Cup game. 

Deschamps admitted after the match that his team struggled at times, but in the end they were quite effective. They restricted Morocco to just one shot on target in the whole game. 

France were clinical at the other end, having two shots and scoring two goals, netting the second around ten minutes remaining to seal the win. It will be interesting to see how this latest meeting pans out. 

Will we get a similar game, will we see a more open affair with more goals, or will it be tighter? Morocco will be desperate to avoid conceding early again, and the first goal here could be crucial. 

If Morocco do score first, they will look to manage the game on their terms, sit back on occasions, but ultimately try to frustrate France, which is by no means an easy task looking at France's fearsome front line. 

They're just so impressive. Unlike Paraguay, who played with a low block against France, Morocco do tend to operate with a more proactive, aggressive defensive line. 

Look at someone like Hakimi, we know how important he is for this Morocco side. He will look to bomb forward on that right-hand side and contribute in attack. 

A high press for Morocco collectively could punish France and put them under fresh pressure at times, but then that runs the risk of leaving space behind the fullbacks, and that's where France's wide men could possibly exploit. 

We saw against Norway, albeit an understrength Norway side, how effective Dembele was in that first half of that game. He scored a hat-trick and just had far too much space in those wide areas, and evidently punished them big time. 

And you've got the likes of Barcola, Doue, possibly Olise if he was not operating centrally, who can also pose a threat out wide. 

In midfield as well, France are pretty strong at winning the ball back, winning those defensive duels and then transitioning instantly through their pacey forwards. 

Similarly to that 2022 clash, I think France may actually feel that they can afford to cede possession to Morocco, lure them forward a bit and then strike those clinical blows on the break. 

As we've seen, they're such a difficult team to stop on attack when they have those pacey forwards running at them, especially in a counter-attacking situation when the opposition have fewer defenders back. 

France will really punish you if you're not careful, and Morocco will be mindful of that. Whether they adjust their game plan slightly to try and nullify that will remain to be seen. 

Will they take a leaf out of Paraguay's book and use the dark arts at times? We'll have to see. But for France, regardless of how Morocco play, this is a very confident, very strong France side who have that conviction to break down any team. 

So even though this Morocco test may not be easy, France will still believe that they have more than enough quality to come out on top and reach the semifinals. 

They'll definitely go into it as favourites, but Morocco overcame co-host Canada 3-0 in the last 16. They've impressed at the tournament so far. 

Again, semi-finalists four years ago, and there's a bit of a what-if question because they were missing two starters from that game against France and you wonder what might have happened had they had their full-strength side.