World Cup semi-finals talking points: Lionel Messi's last shot, France's defence and the Moroccan miracle

The World Cup semi-finals in Qatar are exciting. Lionel Messi takes Argentina into the last four. France are defending their title. Croatia are aiming for a second consecutive World cup final. Morocco are fighting to become the first African nation to reach the final and are also a history-making team.

Messi is aiming to win the World Cup and end the GOAT debate. Cristiano Ronaldo won the Copa America in 2014. Messi has four goals and two assists in the tournament. Kylian Mbappe is ahead of him in race for the Golden Boot. Argentina beat Brazil to take the trophy in their own backyard. Argentina players are not just doing it for their country, they're doing this for Messi.

France are defending their World Cup title. Didier Deschamps' team has a new unity after the Euros. Kylian Mbappe is the tournament's top scorer. Antoine Griezmann is a key player for Deshamps. France are aiming to become the third nation to win consecutive World Cups. The other two are Italy (1934, 1938) and Brazil (1960, 1962).   French Football expert Jonathan Johnson believes Grizman is more important to Descamps than Mbatté.

Morocco are the first African nation to reach the World Cup semi-finals. They play France in the last four. Coach Walid Regragui has been in charge for 100 days. He has incorporated the players' families into the camp. They have already toppled Ronaldo and Portugal, Spain and Belgium. A win over France would make them worthy of the title. The Atlas Lions have their own stars, including Achraf Hakimi, Hakim Ziyech, Noussair Mazraoui, Sofyan Amrabat, Bono Bounou, Youssef En-Nesyri and Azzedine Ounahi.

Croatia are playing Argentina in the World Cup semi-finals. Josip Juranovic and Bruno Petkovic explain why Croatia's team is calm and composed under pressure. Croatia only declared independence in 1991 after the fall of communist rule throughout the region. The players were either born before or during the early, formative years of a young democratic Croatia. Their schooling also played a huge part in their psychological make-up. They received the grounding they received from parents and school teachers who had lived through the difficult end of Yugoslavia and a war. They will need all their mental steeliness and powers of concentration to overcome the fervent support for Argentina.