Strange as it seems to say, given all of the evidence we have at our disposal — the fact that France leads, and has done so from the fifth minute; the fact that France does this so often that it is hard to assume it is not on purpose; the fact that Morocco is now without both of its first-choice central defenders — Morocco should regard that first half as a success.
When Theo Hernandez put the French ahead, it was hard not to worry that Morocco’s dreamlike run through this tournament would end with a juddering, harrowing encounter with reality, an impression compounded when Romain Saiss, the Moroccan captain, trudged off with injury.