Two of France’s key players are “serious doubts” for starting in the World Cup semifinal match against Morocco due to illness, while the Atlas Lions’s coach Walid Regragui has rallied his team to fight to get through to the final on behalf of African nations and the Arab world.

In a significant blow for head coach Didier Deschamps, France defender Dayot Upamecano and midfielder Adrien Rabiot are both doubtful to start in their side’s World Cup semifinal match on Wednesday after missing a team training session on Tuesday due to illness, the French Football Federation (FFF) said.

Upamecano, who was reported to have a sore throat, and Rabiot, who had an unspecified illness, were on light training indoors, the federation said.

Upamecano had already missed France’s training session on Monday.

Should the two players be ruled out, coach Deschamps is expected to start Ibrahima Konate at centre back while Youssouf Fofana would be expected to be alongside Antoine Griezmann and Aurelien Tchouameni in the midfield.

Tchouameni, who scored in France’s victory over England on Saturday, was also absent from training on Monday due to discomfort in his left leg but returned to the training pitch on Tuesday and should be fit for the Morocco match. The midfielder is the only player to have started in every game during the French World Cup campaign.- Al Jazeera