France into World Cup semi-finals : 'When it gets a bit difficult, they can hang in there'

And here for some analysis of yesterday's matchup and what comes next for France, we welcome sports journalist Francis Collins to the studio. Thanks so much for being with us, sir. France has looked pretty unstoppable, if I may say so myself.

We've got Mbappé chasing records with every match. But did you see anything, did you notice anything in yesterday's match that maybe thought made you think this team could be beatable? Well, you know, there's a long history of teams in the World Cup that look fantastic, that are beautiful to watch, that don't always get there.

I think on this occasion, we're not going to say that because this looks an outstanding French team. And what's impressed me is not just their beautiful play with all the forwards they've got. You've mentioned Mbappé, Dembele, and they've got others that come on as well.

It's the fact that when it gets a bit awkward, when it gets a bit difficult, they can hang in there. The last game against Paraguay was a really gnarly game. They were under a lot of provocation, especially Mbappé.

And they had to dig deep against a very defensive, low-blocking team and winkle their way through. And on that occasion, the manager, Deschamps, brought on Desiree Douai, who won them the penalty, got them through that game. This game, it was somewhat easier.

Morocco, I think, a little bit disappointing because we thought they'd give France a better game. But again, it comes down to the fact that how do you stop somebody like Mbappé? And if it's not him, then it's going to be Dembele, of course, who is the Ballon d'Or winner.

Then you can bring on Ryan Scherke. They brought on Mateta at the end, who's big and strong in the air and very awkward. They have so much in attack, so many ways of winning.

So, yes, I think they're going to win the World Cup. But I'm going to refer back to when I thought that of Brazil in 1984, Holland in 74, other biddable teams, the French team in the 80s. Things can go wrong.

Somebody can get injured. They could give away a penalty. So they've not been tested yet.

We're going to see what happens. OK, so looking forward, when we see what happens, they're going to face off against whoever wins the Spain versus Belgium match today. Based on what we know about these teams' strengths, who do you think is going to win that matchup?

And what would you predict the match looks like against France? Well, this is the beauty of football. I mean, you don't really know.

In Belgium, in their game against Senegal, they were all at sea. They were 2-0 down. They didn't seem to have a team plan.

They were going nowhere. And suddenly they pop up with two goals and they win 3-2 against the run of play. No one's quite sure how they did it, but they do have a lot of quality.

And when that quality comes together, they can do really well. I mean, we're seeing with Belgium the end of a golden generation. They had players who we thought could have won the World Cup perhaps four, eight years ago.

They're ageing now, but they bring on someone like Romelu Lukaku at the end, who's getting on a bit. He's got three goals. They're very much an impact team in the last 20 minutes.

But Spain have not conceded a goal. They're the European champions. They look imperious.

They look really, really solid. Such a rock-hard defence midfield of Pedri and Rodri and Dani Olmo. They're very, very hard to play against.

Very hard, as we can see, to score against. No one's done it yet. I expect Spain to win, but Belgium, you never quite know what you're going to get.

They've got quality in their team. There could be an upset. But let's see.

I mean, I do fancy Spain. I want to talk a little bit more about Morocco, because they were the Cinderella story of the tournament this year, one of the few breakouts of this year's tournament. But once again, we're seeing the final stages dominated by mostly European teams.

I had a couple of friends of mine talking about how they're just tired of seeing the same teams over and over again in the final stages. What do you think worked and didn't work about FIFA's attempts to increase the number of teams, maybe widen the opportunities? Well, I mean, you're right.

We have got people like Argentina coming up in the final quarterfinal. But Argentina very easily could have lost to Cape Verde. Who would have thought Cape Verde, an island with a population of half a million, could take Argentina all the way to the end and very nearly won that game.

Argentina, of course, were 2-0 down against Egypt. Maybe a few question marks about what happened in that game, but they still showed enormous heart to come back and win. So we have had these teams that come along and do excite.

Morocco breakout team in Qatar four years ago. We thought that they really could go a bit further. And I think it was a disappointing performance against the French.

I think they were caught between two stools when I was watching it because they are very good in attack. We've seen that in the earlier games. But I think they were scared of attacking too much in case France, of course, hit them on the break.

And I think that's what eventually didn't help them at all. And, of course, they conceded those two goals and a penalty for Mbappe, which he missed. But Morocco are a developing nation and a developing team.

And the interesting thing about Morocco and other countries, the Netherlands is one, is that often players from the diaspora are not choosing to play for the countries where they were born and brought up and raised. Morocco has players that came through the French system but have chosen to go and play for Morocco. I believe six of their players were actually born in France.

Years gone by, it used to be you wanted to get into your national team. And if you weren't good enough, you would then go off and play somewhere else if you could. But now we have top players who are choosing to play for other countries.

So we have a very interesting cultural and political mix going on. And you say we've got some regulars. But don't forget, of course, Germany have gone out.

Italy haven't made it to the last three World Cups. The Netherlands have gone out. So there's always an upset possible.

And we could yet still see a big team going out. I don't know. And final question.

And I'm not going to deny an Englishman the opportunity to talk about his own team, England versus Norway. They're playing this weekend. Can you quickly just tell us about, you know, the hopes and dreams that are pinned on this match for your country?

Who was it who said it's the hope that kills you? I mean, that's what it's like being English. We haven't won anything since 1966.

We've threatened. We've got to two European finals. We've got to a World Cup final in Russia.

Invariably, we go out on penalties or something happens. So as an Englishman, my hopes are never too high. You can always, part of your heart thinks, well, they could.

But, you know, to be dispassionate, it's against Norway who they should beat. But it's in Miami. And you know what it's like in Miami this time of year.

It's going to be a bit hot. And so we're going to see a very different game to perhaps you would see if they were playing in an English winter. All right.

Francis Collins, lovely speaking with you. Thank you so much for sharing your expertise with us here on France 24.