FIFA World Cup 2022

Griezmann's form, along that of While Kylian Mbappe and Olivier Giroud, will be a key element when the defending champions take on tournament surprise semi-finalists Morocco on Wednesday night as they aim to become the first European nation to reach successive World Cup finals since Italy in 1938.

The Three Lions captain converted the first of the two kicks, to level both the match and Wayne Rooney's all-time England goal record, that his team got in regulation time but failed to get the second one past his Tottenham teammate Hugo Lloris in the Les Blues goal blasting it over the crossbar and thereby missing the chance to make it 2-2.

"We will show great desire and try to pull off an upset," said Morocco coach Walid Regragui at the pre-match conference on Tuesday. "We aren't satisfied with the semi-final and being the first African team to do that. We want to go further. Why not reach the final of the World Cup?" Morocco have already made history as the first African team to reach the last four, and the Atlas Lions "crazy" dream

The Argentina captain, who will be playing his second World Cup final on Sunday, having finished as runner-up in the 2014 final to Germany, will be keen to hold aloft the trophy on December 18 at the Lusail Stadium. The 35-year-old and his teammates will await the winner of Wednesday's second semi-final between defending champions France and rank outsiders Morocco to see whom they will take on in the title clash.

The Moroccan side had just 23 percent of the ball against Spain and just 22 percent in their 1-0 quarterfinal win against Portugal. The story is a little different from the group stage, where they had less than 35 percent of the ball against Belgium and Croatia and 45 percent against Canada. The irony is that Morocco conceded the only goal against them in this World Cup in the game where they saw most of the ball.

The Argentinian superstar had announced at the start of the tournament that he will retire from international football after Qatar World Cup but Scaloni feels there will be a change of heart and he will continue. "We will hope he continues playing. Let's see if he does. We will keep enjoying him, that's important for us and for the world of foo"ball."

De Paul was forced off in the second half of Argentina's quarterfinal victory over the Netherlands on Friday with a hamstring problem while Di Maria has been nursing a quadriceps strain. "Both players are fit," Scaloni told a news conference ahead of Tuesday's match in Lusail.

Al Hilm, which translates as "The Dream" in Arabic, follows on from the Official Match Ball of the group stages, Al Rihla, which translates as "The Journey". Both balls feature the same technology, engineered to support the highest game speeds as they travel faster in flight than any other World Cup ball.

Portugal crashed out of the 2022 World Cup following a 0-1 defeat against Morocco in the quarter-final. "No trophy or any title can take anything away from what you have done in this sport and for sports fans around the world. No title can explain the impact you have had on people and what I and so many around the world feel when we watch you play," Kohli wrote in an Instagram post.

The never-say-die spirit of the Croatians, coupled with the excellence of veteran midfielder Luka Modric and defender Dejan Lovren, saw a fine defensive display and shows that a side that has taken many ties in knockout stages of recent major tournaments to extra time, does not know how to give up, reports Xinhua news agency.