On Thursday afternoon in Boston, Morocco and France are set to enter battle in the knockout stages of the World Cup for the second successive tournament.
In Qatar four years ago, France came out on top to seal their place in the final, where they would eventually lose to Lionel Messi's Argentina.
This time round, in North America, it will be the quarter-finals where the two nations clash as Morocco look to match their historic run of 2022. The Atlas Lions became the first African and Arab nation to finish fourth at the global finals.
Morocco secured their last-eight spot thanks to a 3-0 win over co-hosts Canada, while France knocked out Paraguay 1-0 in their ill-tempered last-16 match.
We pick out the main talking points ahead of their face-off for a place in the semi-finals.
Ouahbi's flying start
It was daunting boots to fill when Mohamed Ouahbi replaced history-making manager Walid Regragui in March, with the start of the World Cup looming large on the horizon, just 98 days away.
Ouahbi had guided Morocco to glory at the Under-20 World Cup in Chile last October, but the big question would be whether he could transfer that success over to the senior side with little time to prepare.
With Morocco having just reached the quarter-final stage for a second successive finals, it is safe to say Ouahbi has come through with flying colours. The Atlas Lions are unbeaten in 10 matches under their new coach, winning six and drawing four.
At these finals, Morocco started the tournament by drawing with Brazil before going on to beat Scotland, Haiti, the Netherlands – via a penalty shoot-out – and then Canada.
That latter game saw Ouahbi tinker with the system to move Azzedine Ounahi higher up the pitch, which paid dividends as the midfielder grabbed a match-winning double. Another sign that Morocco are benefiting from the manager's tactical nous.
“When people talk about Morocco, they are talking about a real contender and a major footballing nation. That is a great source of pride,” said Ouahbi after beating Canada. “We want to keep going; we don’t want to stop. We will keep the same ambition and same goal [to win the World Cup].”
Rahimi ready to step up
The big concern to emerge from the Canada game was the injury to Ismael Saibari, who had been Morocco's standout star so far at the tournament.
The 24-year-old Bayern Munich new boy had left the field in tears having suffered a hamstring strain and a decision on his fitness will be left as late as possible ahead of the match against France after a second MRI showed encouraging progress.
If Saibari fails to make it, Ouahbi is likely to again call on Soufiane Rahimi as his replacement, with the Al Ain striker having impressed after coming on against Canada.
During his 68 minutes on the pitch in Houston, Rahimi hit the bar with a header before scoring the third and final goal with a cool stoppage-time finish, taking his international tally to 14 in 42 caps. He also scored one and assisted another after coming off the bench in the group-stage win over Haiti.
The 30-year-old scored 15 in 23 games last season, helping Al Ain win the Pro League and President's Cup double, adding to the AFC Champions League title and League Cup already safely in the bag since moving to the UAE in 2020. His Al Ain record now reads an impressive 80 goals and 48 assists in 134 appearances.
France make case for defence
Standing in Morocco's way will be a France team rightly lauded as potential tournament winners, a side that wields frightening attacking power, having scored 14 goals in their five games so far. Captain Kylian Mbappe has grabbed seven of them, one shy of tournament top scorer Lionel Messi.
Current Ballon d'Or holder Ousmane Dembele has a hat-trick to his name after hitting a treble against Norway while Michael Olise tops the assists chart after supplying five of Les Bleus' goals.
Mbappe, Dembele, Olise and Bradley Barcola all started against Paraguay while manager Didier Deschamps also has Desire Doue and Rayan Cherki to call on as forward options from the bench. Marcus Thuram returned to training this week after missing the last two games with a calf issue to further bolster France's attacking options.
Just to highlight the challenge facing Ouahbi's side, at the other end of the pitch France have conceded just two goals so far, having kept clean sheets against Iraq, Sweden and Paraguay.
At the heart of the defence are centre-back pairing William Saliba and Dayot Upamecano, who have just enjoyed sterling seasons with their respective club sides, Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain.
But Saliba knows they will face a tough test on Thursday. “Morocco is a very strong team,” he said. “They have defeated big teams since the start of the World Cup, and most importantly, they haven’t lost any match. So, we know it won’t be easy.”
Deschamps' 'love of winning'
The Morocco match could potentially be the last match we see Didier Deschamps in charge of the France team.
Deschamps' reign comes to an end at the end of the tournament after a 14-year spell in charge that has seen France reach four consecutive World Cup quarter-finals – a feat only previously achieved by the Soviet Union, Brazil and Germany – going on to win the crown in 2018 and then finish as runners-up four years later.
His World Cup record from 24 games as coach reads 19 wins, three draws and just two defeats – against Germany in the 2014 quarter-finals and a shoot-out loss to Argentina in the 2022 final.
The 57-year-old missed France's group-stage win over Norway after flying back to France for the funeral of his mother. “I don’t think it’s so easy to have to grieve in these conditions,” said midfielder Adrien Rabiot after Deschamps returned to the US
“He came back with willpower to go as far as possible. We are united, we know what he’s going through, and we will try to give him something to rejoice over; it’s the least we can do.”
Before the finals kicked off, Mbappe had told media outlet M6: “The best way to pay tribute to him is to win [the tournament], because he loves winning. So we’re going to do everything we can to make sure he has the best possible World Cup.”
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