Morocco defender Jawad El Yamiq almost scored the best goal of the World Cup against France on Wednesday.
The 30-year-old, who plies his trade with Valladolid, produced a spectacular bicycle kick in the closing stages of the first half.
It was a magnificent effort that so very nearly found a way past France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
Morocco had conceded just one goal all tournament heading into Wednesday’s semi-final but keeping Kylian Mbappe and his French teammates quiet promised to be their toughest challenge yet.
France open the scoring through Theo Hernandez
And it took Les Bleus just five minutes to open the scoring at the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor.
Left-back Theo Hernandez steered the ball past Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou from close range with a clever finish.
France, aiming to reach their second consecutive World Cup final, qualified for the last four thanks to a hard-fought 2-1 win over England on Sunday.
And they got off to a dream start against the first African team to reach a World Cup semi-final thanks to Hernandez’s acrobatic strike.
Despite going 1-0 down so early in the game, though, Morocco weren’t about to crumble.
Azzedine Ounahi tested Hugo Lloris with a long-range effort before Hakim Ziyech hit a shot wide.
But shortly after Ziyech missed the target, Olivier Giroud – one of the stars of the Qatar World Cup – smashed the Morocco post.
Morocco were then dealt another blow when captain Romain Saiss was forced off with an injury in the 21st minute.
Nayef Aguerd was also replaced minutes before kick-off, which meant Morocco had lost both of their first-choice centre-backs by the middle of the first half.
Walid Regragui’s side battled on and were, for periods of the opening 45 minutes, the better side.
With their one-goal advantage, France were content to sit a little deeper and hit their opponents on the break. Mbappe and Giroud both went close in quick succession in the 35th minute.
Another France goal would surely spell the end of Morocco’s World Cup dream.
Video: El Yamiq’s overhead kick attempt vs France
But it was Morocco who came closest to equalising at the end of the first half thanks to El Yamiq’s spectacular effort.
Watch it here:
Se o El Yamiq marca isto… pic.twitter.com/ZqMxEKwb6W
— GonçaloDias17 (@goncalo_diass17) December 14, 2022
What a goal that would have been 🤯
Hugo Lloris gets a hand to Jawad El Yamiq’s overhead kick which hits the post 😲#BBCFootball #BBCWorldCup pic.twitter.com/1jUjDsB1SE
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) December 14, 2022
So unlucky!
That may well have been the best goal of the 2022 World Cup had it gone in.
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