Kylian Mbappe made amends for a first-half penalty miss by scoring after the break as two-time champions France beat Morocco 2-0 in their 2026 Fifa World Cup quarter-final match at Boston Stadium, United States, on Thursday.
Ousmane Dembele added France’s second goal to seal their place in the semi-finals, where they are set to meet either Spain or Belgium, who will face each other tomorrow.
The match was a repeat of one of the semi-finals at the Qatar 2022 World Cup, while the two nations had met six times previously, with France winning four of those encounters.
France started brightly and almost went ahead as early as the fourth minute when a fine build-up move ended with Mbappe firing the first shot of the match, only for Moroccan goalkeeper Yassine Bounou to push his effort away for a corner.
From the resulting short corner, Dayot Upamecano was picked out inside the area, but his close-range header was again kept out by Bounou.
France were handed a golden opportunity in the 28th minute after Noussair Mazraoui brought down Mbappe in the box, prompting referee Facundo Tello to point to the spot.
However, Bounou came to Morocco’s rescue once again, diving to deny Mbappe’s penalty and keep the scoreline level.
The French pressure continued in the 35th minute when Desire Doue produced a brilliant surging run through the heart of the Moroccan defence, but his low effort was pushed away by Bounou.
Les Bleus (The Blues) came close again in first-half added time when Lucas Digne unleashed a swerving long-range strike which rattled the crossbar as Morocco survived a dominant opening half from the 2018 champions.
Mbappe finally broke the deadlock in the 60th minute with a powerful strike that went beyond Bounou’s reach to put France in front.
It was Mbappe’s eighth goal of the campaign, putting him level with Argentina star Lionel Messi in the Golden Boot race with Norway’s Erling Haaland close behind (seven).
France doubled their advantage six minutes later through Dembele, whose low shot into the bottom-right corner slipped past Bounou despite the goalkeeper getting a hand to it.
Mbappe later received treatment on the pitch but appeared to be fine as he left smiling and high-fiving his team-mates before being replaced by Jean-Philippe Mateta in the 77th minute.
The remaining quarter-final ties will see Norway take on England, while Argentina face Switzerland.
- Bernama
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