Bad news: The French team is restless because the two key stars may miss the match against Morocco

Dayot Upamecano and Adrien Rabiot missed France’s final practice to focus on getting ready for the 2022 World Cup semifinals.

Dayot Upamecano was absent from both of France’s most recent training sessions—including one before their semi-final match against Morocco—due to a cold and sore throat. Recently, another Adrien Rabiot encountered a comparable predicament, which caused coach Didier Deschamps to pause.

According to RMC Sport, coach Deschamps is prepared to wait until the very last minute and is certain that both Upamecano and Rabiot will be able to start tonight’s match against Morocco. The 54-year-old tactic has also closed an option in the case that they are not present.

As a result, in the penultimate practice before the semi-finals, coach Deschamps substituted Ibrahima Konate for Upamecano in a central defensive combination with Raphael Varane. Youssouf Fofana is given the place that Rabiot typically occupies in the midfield three.

Aurelien Tchouameni will be available for France’s encounter against Morocco, which is wonderful news. The midfielder was unable to join earlier in Les Bleus’ training session on Monday due to a thigh issue. The significance is undeniable because he has started each of the five games since the tournament’s began.

The home team will still have the strongest starting lineup tonight, according to the French press, because Upamecano and Rabiot are both healthy aside from a few minor health issues. Coach Deschamps will again start the same lineup against Poland and England if there are no last-minute shocks.

Lloris – Kounde, Varane, Upamecano, T. Hernandez – Tchouameni, Griezmann, Rabiot – Dembele, Giroud, Mbappe — is the projected French starting lineup against Morocco.

Sad news: The key central defender of Morocco can suppress pain on the pitch in the French clash

Despite being absent from the final training session before the semi-finals, Morocco’s central defender Nayef Aguerd was still able to suppress pain to start the game.Morocco has been making history by becoming the first African team to reach the semi-finals of a World Cup.

With no opponent conceding a goal, coach Walid Regragui’s army has the right to believe in making another earthquake even though it will have to face the defending world champion France. However, central defender Nayef Aguerd is in danger of being absent.

In the first 15 minutes for reporters in the final training session to prepare for the semi-finals, Aguerd was the only pillar of the Morocco team that did not appear. The West Ham midfielder is still racing against time to recover from a thigh injury, which is also the problem that made him a spectator in the quarter-final against Portugal.

According to the French press, Aguerd can go to the training ground later as a way of “blinding” coach Regragui. However, it is highly likely that the 26-year-old midfielder has not actually recovered from his injury and will most likely have to squeeze out pain in the semi-final tonight.

Aguerd started all four of Morocco’s matches until he was injured and left the field in the 84th minute of the match against Spain. Before Portugal, Jawad El Yamiq was the one chosen by coach Regragui to play a central defender pairing with captain Romain Saiss and played quite well.

The positive news for Morocco is that full-back Noussair Mazraoui is likely to return after missing the quarter-finals a few days ago. Besides, pillars like Hakim Ziyech, Achraf Hakimi or Youssef En-Nesyri also have no problem and are ready to play from the beginning.