French belief triumphs over Moroccan wishfulness in men's World Cup semifinal

Chris Jones is in Qatar covering the men's World Cup for CBC Sports.

After giving hope its run, fact reasserted itself in the World Cup semifinal. In the grand and sprawling history of this tournament, several unexpected sides have appeared among the final four; there have been no surprise winners. The second-last game is the maximum expected range of the aspirants, the romantics, the prayerful.

The preordained almost always take it from here.

The Moroccans had done so well to make it this far. Not many had expected them to advance out of Group F — remember when they were supposed to be Canada's "easy" game? — let alone win two knockout-round matches against favoured Spain and Portugal.

Wednesday's meeting with defending champion France was historic by multiple measures. Morocco was the first African and Arab team to reach a men's World Cup semifinal. They were greeted as heroes by the night's hugely unbalanced crowd, who accompanied every French possession with a chorus of whistles, and every Moroccan chance with roars. 

Their yearning fell on deaf ears. We have reached the ruthless stage of the tournament when games seem less like coin tosses and more like certainties, with fates no longer decided by desire alone. Now the believers almost always beat the wishful, and so the French beat the Moroccans, 2-0.

When France opened its accounts in the fifth minute, a rout appeared to be on. Antoine Griezmann, who has been masterful all tournament, freed himself from Jawad El Yamiq after the Moroccan cruelly slipped. Griezmann delivered a cross to Kylian Mbappé, whose blocked shot ricocheted to Theo Hernández, who chopped the ball down into the net.

That was the first goal the Moroccans had conceded in more than 1,000 minutes