France, Fighting Off Morocco’s Push, Returns to the World Cup Final

AL KHOR, Qatar — The drums kept beating out their rhythm, the whistles kept pouring down from the stands, and Morocco’s players kept coming, again and again, their legs weary and their lungs burning, raging against the dying of the light. Morocco, at the last, ran out of road. At no point did it run out of fight.

The 2022 World Cup will have the blockbuster final that both FIFA, its organizer, and its Qatari host would have craved: Lionel Messi’s Argentina against the France of Kylian Mbappé, a squad seeking to become the first team in half a century to retain the most coveted prize in sports.

But regardless of what happens on Sunday, and despite falling, 2-0, to France in a breathless,…