Nils Adler

Af­ter France dashed Mo­roc­co’s hopes in Wednes­day’s semi­fi­nal, the friends swapped shirts, hugs and re­spect.

Mo­roc­co have al­ready out­done their 1986 World Cup hero­ics, but can Mes­si’s Ar­genti­na em­u­late Maradona’s team and win it?

As At­las Li­ons set to face Les Blues, Al Jazeera looks at his­to­ry be­tween Mo­roc­co and its for­mer colonis­er, France.

Here is what is hap­pen­ing on day 25 of the World Cup when the sec­ond semi-fi­nal takes place.

Mes­si showed un­char­ac­ter­is­tic flash­es of anger against the Nether­lands, in­clud­ing mock­ing the Dutch man­ag­er and play­er.

Mo­roc­co fans have lit up the World Cup and have now giv­en a thun­der­clap, made fa­mous by Ice­landic fans, their own twist.

Cur­rent world cham­pi­ons France take on an un­beat­en Eng­land in this heavy­weight quar­ter-fi­nal matchup.

Mo­roc­co, the only African team still in the World Cup, will face an in-form Por­tu­gal in their first-ever quar­ter-fi­nal.

Brazil head into their quar­ter-fi­nal against Croa­t­ia high on con­fi­dence af­ter an im­pres­sive 4-1 win over South Ko­rea.