France and Morocco don't like to hold the ball at the 2022 World Cup

For much of the quarter-final against France, England dominated possession. They did pretty much everything they wanted with the ball at their feet: building attacks from the back, advancing freely and combining proactively across the pitch.

Coach Deschamp celebrates with his players after defeating England in the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup. Photo:AFP

With superior ball possession, England completed no less than 100 more passes than France and were hardly pressed in their own half. Yet, England lost the game.

With a squad brimming with attacking talent, France are just two victories away from winning the World Cup. After Brazil in 1958 and 1962, they will become the first team in 60 years to win back-to-back World Cups. ButLes BleusThey do this by staying away from active possession. They hide, allowing their opponents to attack, playing in a similar way to an "underdog" team like Morocco in this tournament, but with a completely different mentality.

With fast attacking players like Mbappe, France possesses excellent counter-attacking ability. Photo:AFP

While France refused to use their superior talent to overwhelm opponents in matches, Morocco simply had no other choice.

France have completely transformed themselves after 15 years of trying to outplay their opponents. They have opted for a more modest approach despite having world-class players in every position on the pitch. "We knew we would be dangerous on the counter-attack," striker Olivier Giroud, who had just 23 touches against England but still scored the winning goal, said of his team's play. "The important thing is to handle the details of the game well. We have shown our ability in many areas of the pitch."

France scored twice against England with just five shots on target. Their expected goals, a measure of a team's scoring potential in a match, was just 1.4. Their chances were not particularly clear. France have played like that all tournament. They stay away from the ball and wait for counter-attacks. The average position of the team was only about 40 meters from goal, according to the statistics agency.Opta. Pressing attacking teams like Germany or Spain have a higher block of about four meters.

Les Bleusare also among the teams that give the most space up front and allow the most passes to the opposition at the 2022 World Cup. They are among the top six teams in this aspect, including Australia, Costa Rica, Japan, Poland and Ghana.

Morocco players celebrate after scoring against Portugal in the 2022 World Cup quarter-finals. Photo:AP

The key difference between France and these teams is that they can change their style of play at will. Every member of the squad is top class, capable of being a great passer if needed. Most of the French players now play for the best possession teams in Europe and even the best in the Champions League. It’s just that when they put on the national team jersey, under the direction of Didier Deschamps, these players are like snakes hunting their prey, waiting patiently before counter-attacking with lightning attacks.

Four years ago, France used a similar tactic in Russia. Despite having a squad worth over a billion dollars, coach Deschamps chose a pragmatic approach. France sat deep with two defensive midfielders. They only had possession for an average of 48% of the tournament and Deschamps was criticized for wasting his talent by not controlling possession. But at the end of the tournament, it was very difficult to argue with him. France won the world championship for the second time in history.

"This spirit reminds me of what happened in 2018," Giroud stressed last Saturday.

It is no surprise that Deschamps has chosen to organise his team this way. He plays as a defensive midfielder and captained France's 1998 World Cup and 2000 European Championship winning sides.Les BleusThey also had other outstanding attacking talent, but they still focused on consistency, and always managed to get the team to within a point of the goal. The only knockout match they won by more than one goal in either tournament was the 1998 World Cup final, when they beat Brazil 3-0.

The difficulty for France in today's World Cup semi-final is that their opponents play similarly. Morocco defends like a wall in front of goal simply because they have no other choice. They are rated much lower than their knockout opponents Spain and Portugal as well as all the group stage matches. In the five matches played at this World Cup, the "Atlas Lions" have only had an average of 32% possession, the second least in the tournament, only bettered by Costa Rica.

This is also the strategy of coach Walid Regragui when combining the defense with bright attacking stars. Players like Hakim Ziyech and Sofiane Boufal are the first to defend when the team chooses this style of play. But that does not mean that the attacking ability of this duo is wasted. Morocco realizes that the speed and directness of Ziyech and Boufal can help them play counter-attacks. They have the ability to dribble and operate independently to help the team get the ball as quickly as possible to the opponent's field without having to pass much. At the 2022 World Cup, only France and Brazil play more directly than Morocco. And today, two of these three teams meet to determine the last ticket to the final.

"Very few people believed Morocco would make it to the semi-finals, but they did," Deschamps exclaimed. "The only difference is that for me, they are no longer a surprise."