Didier Deschamps has made it clear he is untroubled by the decision to assign Argentine match officials to Thursday’s World Cup quarter-final between France and Morocco, even though a potential rematch of the 2022 final against Argentina remains on the cards. “We have to accept it,” he stated. “I have faith in the referees. Our rival is Morocco, not the referee.”
The France manager, however, is no born statesman. This was a typically pugnacious showing from Deschamps, who devoted at least a minute and a half at the close of his media briefing to explaining why he truly had no time for one last question, before eventually conceding an answer with visible irritation. He couldn’t resist a dig at those, many from North African outlets, who had found fault with the display of French official François Letexier during Tuesday’s round-of-16 tie between Argentina and Egypt.
“Let’s hope our officials are just as good as Monsieur Letexier was,” he remarked. He also met questions from a Moroccan reporter with scorn when asked about a possible penalty for an alleged foul on Sofiane Boufal during the 2022 World Cup semi-final meeting of the two nations.
Fairness has been a recurring subject lately, and the selection of Facundo Tello as referee alongside two Argentine assistants, an Argentine reserve assistant and an Argentine fourth official prompted surprise. Argentina were angered by a widely misinterpreted comment from Kylian Mbappé before the previous tournament concerning European triumphs at recent World Cups, which partly spurred a discriminatory song that featured in their celebrations after the Doha final. The years since have been marked by pointed remarks from both camps.
“There has been some lingering bitterness since that last final, but that’s part of football,” said France’s backup goalkeeper Robin Risser, though he attempted to downplay the online furore. “If these referees are chosen, it’s because they meet the competition’s required standard.”
Meanwhile, the fallout from the bruising last-16 victory against Paraguay has continued, as Celeste Amarilla, a senator from Paraguay’s Liberal Radical party, removed social media posts in which she racially targeted Mbappé, whose penalty secured the win for France, but still insisted on an apology from the Real Madrid forward for calling her “a despicable woman” who was “unworthy of your position”. The Paraguayan administration and Fifa condemned Amarilla, and French prosecutors have opened an inquiry.
France’s players had exhibited notable composure against Paraguay, and their federation made clear its contempt for the procedural moves that led to USA forward Folarin Balogun’s one-match suspension for his red card against Bosnia and Herzegovina being halted through an appeal against a yellow card issued to Michael Olise. The Bayern Munich attacker was booked after Paraguay midfielder Matías Galarza threw himself to the turf clutching his face, though replays plainly showed Olise had only grabbed his jersey.
Mohamed Ouahbi believes Morocco and France have both ‘evolved’ since their World Cup semi-final in 2022. Photograph: Héctor Vivas/FIFA/Getty Images
Deschamps did confirm, however, that Fifa has upheld the yellow card; there was no use of article 27 of the disciplinary code as there had been for Balogun, a chain of events that appeared to follow intervention from Donald Trump.
France’s head coach was eager to stress what a tough opponent Morocco will be. “They don’t fit the same profile as Paraguay,” he said. “We will need to be very efficient because this Morocco side is extremely strong. The challenge grows steeper as you go higher. Attitude doesn’t win matches but it can certainly lose them.”
Given he will step down from his role after this tournament, the quarter-final could serve as Deschamps’ goodbye. “The objective is to do everything to ensure it ends well,” he said. “That’s the only thing driving me.”
Mohamed Ouahbi, for his part, was hesitant to claim too much credit for Morocco’s achievements so far. “I don’t like this idea that we can say what we’ve done is already great and now everything else is a bonus,” he said. “We must focus on winning this match. The only real bonus would be lifting the World Cup.”
Like Deschamps – though in a significantly more courteous manner – he played down the relevance of that semi-final four years ago to the upcoming contest. “Both the Morocco team and the France team have moved on,” he remarked, “and the quality of both is superior compared to four years ago.”
In fact, much of Ouahbi’s press conference was devoted to brushing aside suggestions that the odds are stacked against Morocco. They have travelled roughly six times the distance that France has so far, but as Ouahbi noted, that was the outcome of a blind draw and, in a sense, they have suffered a consequence for finishing second in their group.
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