FIFA World Cup 2022: Friends to the foe

There are no secrets in friendship they say But one close friendship in Wednesdayrsquos second semifinal between France and Morocco at the Al Bayt Stadium will definitely have a fewThere is no way that Francersquos left winger Kylian Mbappe and Moroccorsquos right back Achraf Hakimimdashthe two Paris Saint Germain club teammates and good friendsmdashwould have discussed their respective national teamrsquos strategies at footballrsquos biggest competitionTheir friendship is well known though with Mbappe in the past even visiting Morocco during his holidays for a meet up It is learnt that the duo have even caught up here during their off days at the World Cup where both players have been key performers for their countriesWhile Mbappe leads the Golden Boot race with five goals so far Hakimirsquos defensive capabilities have ensured his team conceded just one time in five matches and that too off an owngoal Both players are audaciously confident too and not shy to exhibit itAlso ReadFIFA World Cup 2022 French record breakers set for semifinal with MoroccoBold and skillfulMbappe 23 has been flawless in his stepovers and speed runs against anyone who comes in front of him while the equally quick Hakimi 24 proved his fearlessness with a daring Panenkastyle penalty in the shootout to dump former champions Spain out in the prequarterfinals The duo perfectly matchup to each other in terms of skill and game intelligence tooSo who will hold the edge on the big nightMoroccorsquos coach Walid Regragui is confident his man will have the measure of Mbappe ldquoAchraf knows Kylian much better than me He trains with him on a daily basis at PSG so hersquos better placed than I am to counter Kylian Achraf is one of the best players in the world in his position so it will be a great duel They will both go hell for leather at each otherrdquo said Regragui during the matcheve press conference at the Main Media Centre here on TuesdaySimilar scenarioFrancersquos skipper and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris who recently experienced a similarly lsquofriendlyrsquo encounter when he faced up to Tottenham teammate and England captain Harry Kane in the quarterfinals admitted that itrsquos not easy to take on someone you know too well ldquoItrsquos true that it may be more difficult to face a teammate because you know each other so well You may be able to surprise them or you may not but I believe that though Achraf and Kylian are good friends the match will take precedence over everything else France v Morocco is a match between two strong football teams and our objective is to qualify for the finalrdquo said LlorisAnd what do the two players think will happen when they cross paths on world footballrsquos biggest stageEarlier this year Hakimi and Mbappe visited the Education City Stadium here as part of a PSG tour where the latter predicted a possible World Cup clash between France and Morocco ldquoI will destroy him It will break my heart a little bit but I have to kill himrdquo a laughing Mbappe said looking into the camera and pointing towards his friend Hakimi smiled and replied ldquoI will kick himrdquo Also ReadMorocco not just satisfied with historic LastEight slotRoad to the semifinalsMoroccoGroup stageDrew with Croatia 00Beat Belgium 20Beat Canada 21Round of 16Beat Spain 30Quarterfinal Beat Portugal 10FranceGroup stageBeat Australia 41Beat Denmark 21Lost to Tunisia 10Round of 16Beat Poland 31Quarterfinal BeatEngland 21