France are on course to become the second team after Brazil to successfully defend their World Cup title.
Les Bleus on Wednesday battled to a 2-0 victory over Morocco to set up a final date with Argentina.
Theo Hernandez fired France into an early lead in their World Cup semifinal against the Atlas Lions at the Al Bayt Stadium.
Walid Regragui’s side had only conceded once in the tournament heading into Wednesday’s match but there was a bit of uncharacteristic chaos within their backline after Antoine Griezmann got down the right flank in the fifth minute.
Hernandez was the beneficiary, finding an acrobatic finish when Kylian Mbappe’s second attempt at goal cannoned off Olivier Giroud.
France are attempting to become the first team to win back-to-back World Cups since Brazil in 1962 and Giroud almost doubled their lead when he thumped against the post before Morocco lost captain Romain Saiss to a recurrence of his thigh injury.
But the Atlas Lions finished the first half on the front foot, as Jawad El Yamiq – whose early slip let in Griezmann – hit the upright with an overhead kick.
The Moroccans stepped up their performance in the early minutes of the second half but the title holders later settled to battle the African giants. They finally doubled the scoreline on the 80th minute through Randal Kolo Muani who came in as substitute for Dembele on the 79th minute.
France will play Messi’s Argentina on Sunday in the final clash of the competition while Morocco face Croatia in the third and fourth place.
Morocco are the first African side to play in the semi finals in the history of the World Cup.
