SEMIFINALS SET   AS FRANCE, MOROCCO ADVANCE

Morocco upset one more European stalwart Saturday when it beat Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal 1-0 at Al Thumama Arena.

Be that as it may, its hardest test to date is not far off, as it will play guarding title holder France, which beat Britain 2-1, in Wednesday's elimination round (2 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports application).

Here's the beginning and end that occurred at the World Cup on Saturday.

Morocco 1, Portugal 0

Going into Saturday's match, Portugal was perhaps of the most blazing group in the competition, and it seemed like it had at long last found a trade for Ronaldo's objective scoring in Gonçalo Ramos. Then Saturday came, and no part of that made a difference.

Morocco, the main crew left in the competition not positioned in the main 15 by FIFA, was clinical in the counterattack and had nine shots on the objective — and the main objective of the game — regardless of losing the belonging fight 73% to 27%. It additionally held Portugal scoreless. Morocco has just permitted one objective in all competitions (its own objective versus Canada in the gathering stage).

With the outcome, Morocco turned into the principal African group to progress to the World Cup elimination rounds. Its next rival will be its hardest yet, however, nothing about what they've displayed at the competition recommends they'll fear the occasion.

Concerning Portugal, it will plan ahead, one that probably will exclude its amazing striker. When the 2026 World Cup rolls around, Ronaldo will be 41.

France 2, Britain 1

Despite Britain's earnest attempts, France clutched advance to the World Cup elimination rounds for the second back-to-back competition and the third time in the last five World Cups. The last shielding World Cup champion to make an elimination round was Brazil in 1998.

Britain had a once-in-a-lifetime chance to send the game to additional time with its subsequent extra shot of the evening, however, Harry Kane — who has scored a greater number of punishments than anybody in World Cup history and presently a larger number of objectives than any man in Britain's set of experiences — cruised his endeavor over his Tottenham colleague Hugo Lloris in objective.

Starting around 1966, no group that had been granted two punishments in a single match had lost. Not the kind of history the Three Lions were expected to make Saturday.

It was a recognizable outcome for Britain at this phase of the competition, however, it verged on overtaking a France group that is thought of as practically magnificent and good to go.

SAVE OF THE DAY

Yassine "Bono" Bounou was the Man of the Counterpart for Morocco again Saturday and deservedly so; he simply keeps on making the most staggering recoveries. He likewise turned into the principal Muslim manager to keep three clean sheets in a solitary World Cup.

Help OF THE DAY

Once more Olivier Giroud came through for France against Britain however had it not been for Antoine Griezmann's ideal cross into the case, Giroud probably would have needed to pull one of his numerous gymnastic completions out of his pack.

Objective OF THE DAY

Aurélien Tchouaméni wasn't even expected to begin for France at the World Cup, however wounds to key midfielders — most prominently N'Golo Kante and Paul Pogba — constrained Didier Deschamps' hand.

While Deschamps would more likely than not very much want to have somebody with Tchouaméni's ability accessible off the seat, it's almost certainly correct he was glad to have him in his most memorable XI on Saturday.