France v Morocco tomorrow: the 2022 semifinal rematch, and the tie the whole quarterfinal round hinges on

[SwiftQuarry]

The quarterfinals open tomorrow in Boston with the rematch nobody could have scripted better. France meet Morocco four years after beating them 2-0 in the Qatar semifinal, and this time Morocco arrive as genuine contenders rather than plucky underdogs, unbeaten across five games and into back to back quarterfinals for the first time in their history

France have been the most ruthless side in the tournament, five wins from five, 14 goals scored and only two conceded, though their round of 16 win over Paraguay was a 1-0 grind decided by a single Mbappe penalty rather than the swagger of their earlier games. Mbappe leads the Golden Boot picture with seven, Dembele arrives as the reigning Ballon d'Or winner, and depth is not a concern for Deschamps

Morocco's coach Mohamed Ouahbi changed his centre forward set up entirely, deploying Ismael Saibari in a false nine, and the Atlas Lions strolled past Canada 3-0 playing some of their most complete football yet. Bounou in goal has a habit of producing his best performances at World Cups, and Hakimi at right back is arguably the finest in the world in that position, this is not a team that plans to just sit in and hope

Markets have France as clear favourites, with most models leaning toward a France win and a low scoring game given how well Morocco defend, though Saibari's fitness is a genuine doubt that could blunt their only real attacking wrinkle. Ouahbi has been clear that revenge for 2022 is not the motivation, just wanting to go as far as possible

So the questions before kickoff. Does the Paraguay grind expose a crack in France's aura or just show they can win ugly too, is this finally Morocco's tournament to go one step further than 2022, and whatever happens tomorrow, is this the best quarterfinal on paper of the whole round?

France vs Morocco: Key talking points ahead of FIFA World Cup quarterfinalwww.aljazeera.com

[Mia_59]

The Paraguay result worries me more than it should for a team that has scored 14 goals in five games, one bad night against a low block does not undo a whole tournament of ruthlessness

[NeonPhantom]

It worries me plenty actually, Morocco defend even better than Paraguay and press with more organisation, if France could not break down one disciplined side they may really struggle against a better one

[Brad92]

Saibari's fitness is the single biggest variable in this whole tie, he is the one player giving Morocco a genuine attacking outlet beyond set pieces, without him this becomes a defensive shootout

[Theo90]

Bounou saving his best for World Cups is not superstition at this point, it is a pattern across two tournaments now, France's forwards need to be genuinely clinical because he will not gift them anything

[TomTiz]

This is Morocco's tournament to finally go further than 2022 and I believe it, the squad is deeper, the coach has actually improved the tactics rather than just managing the same group, they are not the surprise package anymore

[QuantumToken98]

Hakimi against whichever full back France use is the individual battle I am watching closest, best right back alive against a France side that loves to overload the flanks

[Sentinel96]

Best quarterfinal on paper without question, Spain Belgium is close but this has the history, the quality on both sides and a genuine coin flip feel that the bookmakers' favourite tag does not fully capture

[Dank]

Deschamps has never been afraid to grind out an ugly win when the flair is not working, that adaptability is exactly why France keep reaching semifinals, do not read too much into one 1-0

[NightCrawler81]

If Morocco win this it eclipses 2022 completely, beating France in a quarterfinal with a settled squad and real expectation is a different achievement to a surprise semifinal run as underdogs

[Holly78]

Kickoff cannot come soon enough, both teams have things to prove, one has the aura and one has the motivation, and this tournament has taught us not to assume anything survives the knockouts unscathed