France v Morocco Betting Tips
- France to Score 2+ Goals & 6+ Corners
- France to Score 2+ Goals, France 5+ Corners & Morocco 2+ Cards
- Both Teams to Score, 3+ Corners Each & 2+ Cards Each
- France to Win, Both Teams to Score, 3+ Corners Each & 2 Cards Each
- Antoine Griezmann 1 or more Shots on Target from Outside the Box & Olivier Giroud 1 or more Headed Shot on Target
The Morocco train keeps on rolling! They’ve been incredibly impressive over the World Cup so far, taking a few notable scalps along their way to the semi-finals, beating Canada and Belgium in their Group F matches, getting past Spain on penalties in the Last 16 before beating Portugal 1-0 on Saturday.
France have had a tough enough route too, coming back from 0-1 down in the opening game against Australia to win 4-1, beating Denmark, before losing 1-0 to Tunisia in a dead rubber.
Wednesday, December 13: 19:00 – France v Morocco
TV: BBC1, BBC iPlayer, RTE Two
They beat a spirited Poland 3-1 and came out on top against their old foes England in the previous round. It’s going to be a clash of footballing cultures here – France don’t mind going without the ball for long periods as they have full confidence in their attacking players and their defence is strong too.
Morocco are a very solid unit who will hurt you when you lose possession. It has the makings of a classic. We’ve gone through the #WhatOddsPaddy offers and found five of the best.
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France to Score 2+ Goals & 6+ Corners
France have scored at least two goals in five of their last seven games and while we all know now how good this Moroccan defence is this one has the ring of it being just one game too far for the Atlas Lions. We have to compare the teams who they’ve been up against so far; Canada, Belgium, Croatia, Spain and Portugal. Of those five teams, only Portugal have real top-class attackers and both Joao Felix and Goncalo Ramos were unlucky not to get one past Bono in the Morocco goal in the quarter-final.
Against Kylian Mbappe, Olivier Giroud, Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele that defence is going to be under even more pressure than they were against Portugal and we don’t see them weathering the storm and France to score at least two goals here looks good. France’s corner stats so far have been: 2, 7, 8, 6, 8 with the game totals being 7, 8, 15, 10, 9 for Morocco the same stats read as: 3, 0, 2, 1, 0, game totals: 12, 8, 8, 10, 5 so we’d have to expect at least six corners here with those stats.
France to Score 2+ Goals, France 5+ Corners & Morocco 2+ Cards
France have, so far, been averaging 15.9 shots per game with 5.9 being on target. They are the most attack-focused team we’ve seen in the World Cup, they have great faith in their defence, even though they don’t keep many clean sheets, thanks to the knowledge they can rely on Mbappe, Giroud and their supporting cast to simply outscore their opponents. Luck was with them against England in their quarter-final.
On the balance of play, England were the better side but France came out on top and if they can put two past a strong England defence we can certainly see them putting two past this Moroccan defence.
We mentioned Frances’ corner stats above, they’ve had an average of 6.2 over their five games and with them likely to have the lion’s share of the possession here we see them testing Bono in goal from the get-go, meaning more pressure for the defence which always results in plenty of corners.
Morocco have collected just four Yellow Cards so far but substitute Walid Cheddira picked up two against Portugal which led to his dismissal in injury time. Let’s mention though that France, over their five games have seen their opponents collecting 3, 2, 1, 2 and 3 cards and against the speed of the likes of Mbappe and Dembele as well as the smarts of Griezmann and Giroud we can certainly see the Atlas Lions picking up at least a couple of cards here.
Both Teams to Score, 3+ Corners Each & 2+ Cards Each
We mentioned above that France don’t keep many clean sheets, they don’t really have to, they’ve got Mbappe and Giroud up front and had Karim Benzema before he got injured. Don’t forget about Griezmann and Dembele too. They’ve conceded at least one in 11 of their last 13 internationals and we’ve seen that this Moroccan side certainly know how to take their chances when they come to them, so we reckon a BTTS bet looks nailed on.
Regarding corners we’ve shown that France average of 6.2 per game while Morocco have averaged just 1.2 which is a bit low for this punt. However, as time counts down here they’re going to need to get a goal. Yes they beat Spain on penalties but they have been terrible at penalties for years now, would you fancy Morocco’s chances against France in a shootout?
We don’t know too many who would take that bet. So, at some stage here they’ve going to have to have a spell of pressure on the French goal and we’ve seen France surrender possession time and again over Didier Deschamps’ reign as they know they can weather a storm and score on a counter. As such, we see Morocco having some sustained pressure here which should lead to a few shots on goal and we’re hopeful of seeing them chalk up at least three corners.
As for cards, it’s as above really, Morocco will surely get at least two cards, particularly as France are great at drawing fouls and they’re not shy about bringing down attacking players themselves, averaging a Yellow Card per game and we can certainly see them picking up an additional one when Morocco break on them.
France to Win, Both Teams to Score, 3+ Corners Each & 2 Cards Each
You’d have to fancy France here, they have the firepower and the experience and guile to cross the line over the 90 minutes. The question is whether they’ll be able to break down that Moroccan defence that has withstood the challenge from Spain and Portugal so far. Belgium did a far bit of huffing and puffing too but were second best for sure. Spain just passed the ball around and forgot to bother scoring while Portugal were a proper test and did threaten with goal-scoring opportunities.
Our logic here is that France have far better attacking players than Portugal, they have a proper striker, the False 9 or 8 or 6, or whatever title we can give Griezmann and, of course Mbappe who can, without any notice, change a game in an instant. We think they’ll come out on top thanks to these three in particular. Cards and corners are, again, as you were above.
Antoine Griezmann 1 or more Shots on Target from Outside the Box & Olivier Giroud 1 or more Headed Shot on Target
Now, for a long-shot punt here. Griezmann has taken us all by surprise in the World Cup, he’s really taken to the latter-day Andrea Pirlo/Steven Gerrard/Wayne Rooney quater-back role like a duck to the proverbial. He’s just been a joy to watch in this new role, finding space for other players and playing key passes and indeed, the Atletico man has created three of France’s 11 goals so far. He’s had four shots on goals so far, two of which were on target and we’re liking the look of his odds here to test Bono between the sticks from distance.
Giroud has had a total of six shots on target and has scored four goals so far. He’s their target man in the box of course and we’re definitely going to see Griezmann and Dembele, and those behind them, getting crosses into the box for him to get on the end of. Always fond of a header, we think this long-shot punt has a very decent chance of coming in.
France v Morocco Tips
- France to Score 2+ Goals & 6+ Corners
- France to Score 2+ Goals, France 5+ Corners & Morocco 2+ Cards
- Both Teams to Score, 3+ Corners Each & 2+ Cards Each
- France to Win, Both Teams to Score, 3+ Corners Each & 2 Cards Each
- Antoine Griezmann 1 or more Shots on Target from Outside the Box & Olivier Giroud 1 or more Headed Shot on Target
All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.
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