Four former champions have qualified for the FIFA World Cup semifinals for the first time since 1990. Argentina, England, France and Spain capitalised on the inexperience of lesser-pedigreed foes to reach the final four.For the Albiceleste, it was an unwise Swiss dive.For the Three Lions and La Roja, opposing goalkeepers spilled rebounds.And Les Bleus benefited from an inexplicable, forward-less, Morocco lineup.Here are the key takeaways from the quarterfinals:France too good for Morocco in 2-0 route in BostonWhat we learned: Nothing works against France, so far.Morocco tried a unique approach to unsettling the French. Mohamed Ouahbi went with a striker-less lineup, which, predictably failed to threaten.Post-match, France’s coach Didier Deschamps said what everyone else in the room was thinking: “I was quite surprised by the starting 11. I tried to understand why [Ouahbi] made these choices, no real forwards.”Part of the reason would have been the absence of injured forward Ismael Saibari, who had a breakout tournament, though the Morocco roster included three other forwards, including Soufiane Rahimi, who entered in the 60th minute. That was just after Kylian Mbappe’s dipping right-footer inside the far post the opened the scoring for Les Bleus.Ouahbi’s reasoning remains a mystery.He might have been hoping for a France own goal, which was narrowly avoided as a Dayot Upamecano sh …
