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Best friends or rivals? Morocco's Hakimi, France's Mbappé to face off in World Cup semi-final today

It is a high-level duel as both approach a tournament summit that would be historic for either team

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Photo: AFP

By AP

Published: Wed 14 Dec 2022, 9:45 AM

Last updated: Wed 14 Dec 2022, 10:11 AM

Kylian Mbappé is going to meet his good friend Achraf Hakimi again at this World Cup.

However, it will be a bit different from the last time in Qatar last week, when the French star went to visit his Paris Saint-Germain teammate at the Morocco team hotel in downtown Doha.

On Wednesday, Mbappé will be marked by Hakimi in a World Cup semifinal — his path to Morocco’s well-defended goal down the French left wing blocked by a player he rates highly.

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“ACHRAF HAKIMI. BEST RB IN THE WORLD,” Mbappé wrote in English on his Twitter account in January, referring to the right back position Hakimi occupies for club and country.

It is a high-level duel as both approach a World Cup summit that would be historic for either team.

Mbappé versus Hakimi — the tournament’s top scorer with five goals in five games against the standout talent in the tournament-best defence that has conceded just once, and that too, an own-goal.

It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship when the Moroccan player joined Mbappé at PSG in July 2021 from Inter Milan, for a transfer fee reported to be €60 million ($63 million).

Two young men born within several weeks of each other in 1998 — just a few months after France won its first World Cup title — soon got along.

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Hakimi has talked of how they share the same tastes in music and video games, and that Mbappé helps his Madrid-born friend learn French.

For the Eid holidays this year, they teamed up for a video shared by their club. Hakimi guided Mbappé, who has family ties to Morocco’s north African neighbor Algeria, through tasting food from the Arab region.

On the field for the French champion, they have a series of rehearsed handshakes and goal celebrations. Playing for PSG gives them many opportunities.

“It’s easy to play with a player like him,” Hakimi has said of Mbappé. “To give him the ball, knowing that he will make the difference.”

Mbappé has been the difference at this World Cup, especially when he score twice in wins over Denmark in the group stage, and Poland in the Round of 16.

In the quarter-finals on Saturday, Mbappé was kept in check about as much as is possible by England’s speedy right back Kyle Walker. He got just one clear shooting chance that went high and wide.

Still, he was involved in the move that led to France’s first goal in a 2-1 win, and the decisive late winner followed a corner on the left flank that he helped create.

Morocco’s defence has stood like an immovable force and all its European opponents so far — Croatia, Belgium, Spain and Portugal — failed to score in four full games, plus extra time for the Spanish.

Hakimi has helped limit Morocco’s opponents to just 10 goal attempts on target combined, according to Fifa post-game statistics. Canada got an own-goal from defender Nayef Aguerd in a 2-1 win for Morocco.

Mbappé, meanwhile, has had 10 shots on target just by himself, for a France team whose 11-goal total is the best of the four semifinalists.

At the Al Khor Stadium on Wednesday, Mbappé continues pursuing his goal of being the youngest player besides Pelé to have two World Cup titles. France can become the first to retain its title since Pelé and Brazil in 1962.

Hakimi wants to be among the first African players to reach a World Cup final. That would be against either Argentina, whose star Lionel Messi also plays for Qatar-owned PSG.

May the best friend win.

AP

Published: Wed 14 Dec 2022, 9:45 AM

Last updated: Wed 14 Dec 2022, 10:11 AM

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