Just two teams remain at the World Cup in Qatar after defending champions France ended Morocco’s dream run at the tournament to set up a thrilling final against Argentina and Lionel Messi on Sunday. World champions France used all their experience to survive some nervy moments against Morocco, who produced a defiant performance despite falling a goal behind in the opening five minutes. Walid Regragui’s side had become the first side from Africa to reach the World Cup semi-finals, but it was France who advanced to the final thanks to goals from Theo Hernandez and substitute Randal Kolo Muani. France and star striker Kylian Mbappe now face Argentina as they bid to become the first team in 60 years to win back-to-back World Cups. Argentina beat Croatia on Tuesday after an inspired display from Messi, who confirmed Sunday’s final will be his last World Cup match as he bids to win football’s biggest prize for the first time in his career. Follow all the latest news and reaction from Qatar and the build-up to Sunday’s World Cup final between France and Argentina in our live blog below:
World Cup 2022: Latest news ahead of Argentina-France final
Show latest update 1671135354
This is the side of the World Cup that Qatar would rather you ignore
It’s one of those regular moments of harsh reality that snaps you out of the illusion that this is the World Cup. As the taxi driver leaves the group, there is a sudden plea. It’s not for a five star rating. “Can you give me some advice please?” he asks. “I have no money to eat.” The driver, of South Asian descent, sends almost everything he earns back to his family. This is supposed to be the long-awaited period when such workers can generate income due to the number of visitors to Qatar, but here is another who is simply starving. Anyone who was in Doha during the first week of this World Cup would have seen many similar stories unfold before their eyes. The Business and Human Rights Resource Center said on Sunday that there had been six reported cases of abuse of migrant workers in that period alone. This is the side of the World Cup that Qatar would rather you ignore, but that’s inevitable given that it’s absolutely necessary to run this tournament. Michael Jones December 15, 2022 8:15 p.m 1671134454
All wrong with Qatar World Cup
Of the many facts and figures circulating about Qatar’s problems, there is one realization that should stand above them all. It is shameful that, in 2022, a country can host a World Cup where it has lured millions of people from the world’s poorest countries – often under false pretenses – and then forced them into what many call “modern slavery”. And yet this has just been accepted. The World Cup continues, an end product of a structure that is both Orwellian and Kafkaesque. A vast underclass of people work in an authoritarian surveillance state, within an interconnected network of subjects that make escape nearly impossible. “It’s all so integrated,” says Michael Page of Human Rights Watch. Many will point to similar problems in the west, but this is not the failure of a system. It is the system, the global inequality that has gone to extremes. “The bottom line is that these human rights violations are not normal for a World Cup host,” says Minky Worden, also of Human Rights Watch. Michael Jones December 15, 2022 8:00 p.m 1671133554
Theo Hernandez joins France’s superb cast of second-choice standouts
Jack Charlton wasn’t even the best footballer in his family, but he was a World Cup winner. Theo Hernandez may not be the best left-back in his family, but he has scored in a World Cup semi-final. Along the way, he can make his injured brother a World Cup double. Certainly Didier Deschamps started the 2022 World Cup in favor of Lucas Hernandez, the more defensively stable brother and a stalwart of the team that won in 2018. He is advancing to a second consecutive final thanks in part to the second choice, which was quickly promoted when his brother destroyed a crossbar in the first minutes of the tournament. He put Morocco away thanks to one man who started the World Cup on the bench and one who started the night as a substitute: Theo was joined on the scoresheet by Randal Kolo Muani, who received a recent World Cup call-up when Christopher Nkunku was ruled out . They are far from the only examples of how France has turned adversity to advantage. Theo Hernandez’s adventurous run explains why he was the first opponent to score against Morocco at this World Cup: why, when Kylian Mbappe’s shot was blocked, he was ready in the six-yard box to take a shot. Michael Jones December 15, 2022 7:45 p.m 1671132654
Masters of the moment France put entertainment aside to reach another World Cup final
Think of France in a World Cup semi-final and the image that might spring to mind dates back four decades. So vivid, so shocking, is West Germany goalkeeper Toni Schumacher’s attack on Patrick Battiston that it remains one of the most infamous moments in football history. Then, it wasn’t even called a foul. France, who played beautiful football in 1982, went out on penalties, moral winners in a 3-3 draw but effectively defeated. Since then they have won four World Cup semi-finals, three under Didier Deschamps, none with as many goals as 1982, none as memorable, each with something of a recurring theme. France weren’t necessarily emphatic winners, but they were winners. Like Croatia in 1998, Portugal in 2006 and Belgium in 2018, Morocco could reflect on what might have been. Like Croatia 24 years ago, another country in their maiden semi-final on this stage, they are entitled to feel they were the better team. It may not matter. Better to be serial winners than gallant losers. If Deschamps’ trophy collection is impressive enough, he also has a habit of guiding teams to the semi-finals, from the 2004 Champions League to the 2022 World Cup. Each is a means to an end. The feeling is that France do enough for him and not more, offering a kind of efficiency, even if he had to put in a lot of effort on a night when Morocco tested his resolve and his legs. Michael Jones December 15, 2022 7:30 p.m 1671131754
Lionel Messi flies in to deliver a piece of World Cup history
Two hours before kick-off, fans lined up and down Lusail Avenue in a heart-wrenching muted anticipation. It’s a wide street lined with palm trees and bright general stores and restaurants, a theme park of a place, and this so-called “city of the future” seemed like an odd location for some football history. But here they waited, outside McDonald’s and Nando’s and Sainsbury’s, wondering what the night held. Here the fate of Argentina would be decided. or rather Lionel Messi, because that’s what they came to see. It was the only way to explain why, in addition to the core of Argentina’s traveling supporters, thousands of local fans were here wearing Argentina jerseys and draped in Argentine flags. Inside the giant illuminated stadium, a group of young Arab men sat wearing the traditional Keffiyeh headdress with its famous blue and white stripes. Thousands of people had not really come to see a World Cup semi-final, or even to see a football match, as such. They would come to see a moment. Messi has his own gravitas, stretching from the streets of Rosario to the bland boulevards of Lusail and far beyond. One minute to 10 p.m. in Doha, a group of local volunteers wrapped the huge center piece that covered the middle section of the stadium and lifted it on their shoulders. As they prepared to leave, suddenly their heads began to turn to the left, one after another like dominoes. It was Messi, a few meters across the grass, walking up to his marker for the start of the World Cup semi-final. Michael Jones December 15, 2022 7:15 p.m 1671131264
Fernando Santos resigns as Portugal coach after quarter-final exit
Santos took over as Portugal manager in 2014 and led his country to their first major trophy with a triumph at Euro 2016. Portugal were then title winners in the inaugural edition of the Nations League in 2019. Santos, 68, made the bold call to drop captain Cristiano Ronaldo to the bench this month in Portugal’s last-16 win over Switzerland and subsequent defeat by Morocco. “The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) and Fernando Santos have agreed to end the highly successful journey that began in September 2014,” an official statement from the FPF said on Thursday (15 December). “After one of the best performances of the National Team in the final stages of the World Championship, in Qatar, the FPF and Fernando Santos understand that this is the right time to start a new cycle. “[…] The FPF board will now begin the process of selecting the next national coach.” Alex Pattle 15 December 2022 19:07 1671130854
Luka Modric denied latest masterpiece but leaves World Cup stage with greatness assured
His final contribution brought the ultimate humility. The word was actually hit in the face by his own shot. Admittedly, he took Alexis MacAllister off and there was little Luka Modric could do about it. The Ballon d’Or winner at the last World Cup however ended up with the ball in his face in this one. And that, outside of the play-off for third place, was Modric’s final appearance at this stage. His number went up seconds later. in fact, the white flag had been raised with him. When the captain came off, it was all over for Croatia. They were down 3-0. He had taken back control of a World Cup semi-final, his every pass asserting control with a trademark blend of elegance and intelligence, but that was four years ago against England. There was no replay. Modric may feel timeless, but his time at the World Cup is over. Everyone knew…
