{"id":533556,"date":"2026-07-09T20:11:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T20:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/533556\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T20:11:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T20:11:09","slug":"france-and-morocco-open-the-world-cup-quarterfinals-with-an-eagerly-anticipated-showdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/533556\/","title":{"rendered":"France and Morocco open the World Cup quarterfinals with an eagerly anticipated showdown"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>       <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/gettyimages-2284645843.jpg\" alt=\"Morocco's Ayyoub Bouaddi controls the ball against Canada on July 4.\" class=\"image__dam-img image__dam-img--loading\" onload=\"this.classList.remove('image__dam-img--loading')\" onerror=\"imageLoadError(this)\" height=\"2000\" width=\"3000\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmrdsqefy00023b6r3rz96s02@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            We\u2019ve been treated to some breakout stars at this World Cup, but perhaps nobody has caught the eye quite as much as 18-year-old midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmrdsrjfy00053b6r2aggtk5e@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Just weeks after the teenager switched his international allegiance from France to Morocco, the young star has thrived in his defensive midfield role.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmrdsrjfy00063b6rg17vyh1i@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Making his World Cup debut in just his fourth cap, he stole the show in the team\u2019s opening game of the tournament against Brazil.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmrdsrjfy00073b6rhou0u52n@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            No other Moroccan player had more touches (87) or completed more passes (60) in the game.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmrdsrjfy00083b6r61mwron2@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            His fearlessness on the big stage has already seen him linked with a host of big clubs across Europe.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmrdsrjfy00093b6r2wqnrf9x@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            The teen, though, is no stranger to breaking new ground.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmrdsrjfy000a3b6roonzz54v@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            He became the youngest soccer player to ever take the pitch for Ligue 1 side Lille when he made his senior debut just a few days after turning 16 in 2023. He\u2019s already made over 60 appearances in France\u2019s top league.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmrdsrjfy000c3b6r72c29qut@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            And it\u2019s not just on the field where he\u2019s making waves.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmrdsrjfy000d3b6r1iutq43s@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Off it, he\u2019s earned 16 top honors in his science baccalaureate, a year ahead of schedule.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmrdsrjfy000e3b6rn8lax6lr@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            One year earlier, he had gone to the \u00c9lys\u00e9e Palace and, in front of French first lady Brigitte Macron, won first prize in the youth academy\u2019s oratory competition, delivering his speech on the theme, \u201cIs the result superior to the method?\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmrdsrjfy000f3b6ry9eyu65e@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            You have to say so far it very much is!\n    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019ve been treated to some breakout stars at this World Cup, but perhaps nobody has caught the eye&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-533556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}