Morocco vs France Tactical Analysis

Moroccan dream in World Cup over

The dream was over, the Moroccan miracle stopped in the semi-finals, and France qualified against Argentina in the final of the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

Morocco was not an easy opponent, and France struggled to qualify for the final match.

Let's spotlight the most important phase of the match.

Let's go with the formation, France starts the usual 4-3-3, with Konate substitution Upamecano and Fofana of Rabiot.

As for Morocco, start with the new tactical shape 5-4-1, with three CBs and Amallah on the bench, before Saiss was injured, and the shape returned to 4-3-3.

Morocco in the mid-block phase

France was progressing with the ball keeping the full-backs close with the CBs, and Griezman roamed between the lines and up and down to attack the spaces, while Morocco was En-nesyri mark Tchoumeni and closing the passing option towards him when the ball with Konate, Ounahi would go out to press him and make sure that the passing channel was closed towards Fofana, on the other side Boufal closes the pass option for Griezmann while pressing the CBs when the ball reaches his side.

Deschamps was taking advantage of the quality of his CBs by passing carefully between the lines to try to deliver the ball to Griezman in the half-space. Here, Boufal and Amrabat did not close the passing channel well, it did not succeed in the first ball, but it succeeded in the second, and France scored after En-nesyri was late in pressing and not closing the passing channel from Boufal and Amrabat, an early goal messed up of Regragui plan.

Regragui, in a quick reaction, shifted Ounahi to the left side to take advantage of his high ability to close the passing options, so Boufal was devoted to the mark Kounde and En-nesyri to keep press on Tchoumeni, and Ounahi stayed in half the space to close any passing channel, and he succeeded in that, as usual, the mid-block of Morocco caused problems for the French players to create offensive patterns and they returned to attack transition and leave the ball to Morocco.

Morocco in defensive transitions

Regragui is aware of France's ability in transitions due to the ability of Othman and Mbappe in running in space and Giroud in linking with them when he is a target man, so Hakimi was always in the depths to meet the ball or its carrier, at the same time Amrabat and Dari in marking of Giroud and Mbappe.

The first time, after an air ball, Amrabat and Giroud aerial ball at the same time, Dari watched Mbappe in case the ball fell in front of him, in another case when Griezman played the pass for Mbappe to start the transition, Amrabat moved quickly to press Mbappe and left Giroud unmark, and here Dari switch to press him, this switch Between Amrabat and Dari reduced the risk of France attack transition, except in a few individual attempts.

Morocco in possession, of the progression phase

With a three CBs in the back, Mazraoui and Hakimi move forward to the top, and Ounahi fell back close to Amrabat as a second pivot Morocco try a build from the back, France defended in the mid-block with Giroud in the first line of pressure to mark Amrabat and Griezman with Ounahi, Mbappe with Dari, Fofana with Hakimi and Tchoumeni with Mazraoui when they cut to the depth.

Ounahi had a great role in the ball coming out from behind by falling close to the CBs, to drag Griezman away from the circle, at the same time Ziyech pinned Fofana and Amrabat pulled Giroud, which opens a vertical passing channel towards Boufal, who roamed between the lines to received pass.

Morocco was trying to create a link-up with the ball on the flank and attack space there, with at least three players on each side, Mazraoui succeeded in link-up with Ounahi once and shoot a dangerous ball, which was blocked by Lloris.

Morocco was taking advantage of Mbappe do not do a defensive role in pressuring or returning to defensive support, so Ziyech and Hakimi were taking turns cutting deep into Mbappe's back to receive the pass and began linking and attacking the space there.

With Saiss substitution for injury, Morocco's shape returned to 4-3-3 with Amallah as an RCM and Ounahi in the LCM, here, Amallah play the role of Boufal, moving freely between the lines, especially on the side of Mbappe to receive the pass after drag French CM away, especially Fofana, with Ziyech or Hakimi cut to the depth, Fofana was confused to press high on Amallah or stay with Ziyech and he chose the last option.

These spaces create by the Regragui stretch the France line width by Mazraoui and Ziyech all the time to hold the Full-back of France.

Morocco in the final third

In the second half, Morocco took advantage of the drop of France's defense lines and began to create a numerical superiority situation on the flank of Mbappe to space exploitation of his failure to play his defensive role, so Ziyech, Hakimi and Ounahi were linked to attack one of them half-space and play crosses.

When there was Ziyech on the line, Hakimi cut to the depth to reduce press over Ziyech and keep the situation 1 vs 1, When Hakimi was attacking from the flank, Ziyech would cut to the depth.

  After that, Boufal began to get closer to Hakimi's side to create numerical superiority, The Ounahi position dispersed the French midfielders with Boufal attacking half-space with Hakimi, so Morocco reaches the final third began to appear more, but the final passes or crosses not accurate inside the penalty area and France cut off the ball.

Conclusion

Great respect for Walid Regragui, his staff team, and the players, for this wonderful tournament, in which they play great tactical matches and reached the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup.

By: Mohammad Bani Atta

@TacticalZone14

Data by: Yahia Rashwan

@Rush1_analytics