France will face Morocco in the World Cup quarterfinals at Foxborough Stadium, outside Boston in the US, on Thursday in a rematch of the 2022 World Cup semifinal won by Les Bleus.France have been this tournament’s finest team so far, playing some scintillating football on their way to reaching the last 16 – although they required a Kylian Mbappe penalty to break down a stubborn Paraguay side and eke out a 1-0 win in the second knockout phase.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listThe Atlas Lions were impressive as they bossed Canada to win 3-0 in the round of 16, and they strolled through their group with a draw against Brazil and comfortable wins over Haiti and Scotland.It makes for an intriguing quarterfinal. Al Jazeera looks at the key talking points ahead of the clash.Loaded history between France and MoroccoFrance ended Morocco’s fairytale run at Qatar 2022 by beating them 2-0 in the semifinals, before they went on to lose in the final against Argentina.Four years on, France are still the firm favourites to prevail, but now Morocco are also considered genuine World Cup contenders as the Atlas Lions have firmly established themselves as a force in world football.“We’re no longer a surprise today, and that’s a great source of pride,” Morocco’s coach Mohamed Ouahbi said after his side beat Canada 3-0 in the last 16.“I think this is only the beginning, and I hope we’ll keep producing this kind of run for many years.”Ouahbi insists that revenge against France is not Morocco’s main motivation.“We want to go as far as possible and make our people proud,” he said. Advertise …
