France's national team secured the first qualification ticket to the semi-finals of the 2026 World Cup after defeating Morocco.
The French roosters defeated Morocco two goals to nil in the first quarter-final match.
Kylian Mbappé missed a penalty in the 28th minute after Yassine Bounou successfully saved it, and the first half ended in a goalless draw.
Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé scored France's two goals in the 60th and 66th minutes.
France's national team advances to the semi-finals, awaiting the winner of the match between Spain and Belgium.
Bono is not enough
Yassine Bounou shone—as usual—but that was not enough against France to secure qualification to the semi-finals and repeat the 2022 achievement.
He saved a penalty from Mbappé in the 28th minute to keep the Atlas Lions' hopes alive.
Besides the penalty, Bounou saved six French shots on Morocco's goal.
It is natural that this was not enough, as throughout the match, the Moroccan national team only managed one shot on Mike Maignan's goal, in the 83rd minute.
Maignan saved a shot from Azzedine Ounahi and kept a clean sheet.
Déjà vu
The French national team eliminated their Moroccan counterpart from the World Cup for the second consecutive edition.
After defeating the Atlas Lions two goals to nil in 2022, the French national team repeated their victory with the same result in the current edition.
"Déjà vu" is a French word meaning in Arabic "I have seen it before," and the current match is a repeat of what we saw previously in the last World Cup edition.
Mbappé does not stop
Kylian Mbappé continued his brilliance with the French national team and was not affected by missing the penalty in the first half.
Mbappé raised his tally to 8 goals in the 2026 World Cup, sharing the top scorer spot with Lionel Messi.
Mbappé reached 10 contributions in the 2026 World Cup edition with 8 goals and 2 assists, equaling what he achieved in 2022, becoming the first player to do so since 1966.
Mbappé contributed in every match of the 2026 edition, scoring two goals against Senegal, Iraq, and Sweden (two against each team), assisting two goals against Norway, scoring one against Paraguay, and scoring and assisting against Morocco.
He also reached his 20th goal in his World Cup career during 20 matches, one goal behind Messi in the all-time top scorers list.
Match description
The French national team dominated the match from the start in search of an early goal.
Kylian Mbappé missed scoring the first goal in the third minute, and Bounou shone, turning it into a corner.
Bounou shone again and denied Dayot Upamecano a goal after a wonderful header in the fourth minute.
The match referee awarded a penalty to Mbappé in the 25th minute after a foul by Noussair Mazraoui.
Bounou continued his brilliance and saved the penalty with composure in the 27th minute.
Ousmane Dembélé surprised Morocco's defense in the 33rd minute with a powerful shot, but it went just wide of Bounou's right post.
Bounou denied Désiré Doué a certain goal in the 35th minute after a powerful shot.
The crossbar saved a powerful shot from Lucas Digne in the 47th minute, and the first half ended in a goalless draw.
The French national team continued their pressure in the second half in search of the lead without any attack from Morocco.
Bounou shone again in the 55th minute with a powerful shot from Doué.
Mbappé finally succeeded in scoring and opening the match's goals in the 60th minute with a powerful shot to Bounou's left.
Mohamed Ouahbi substituted the duo Sofiane Rahimi and Sofiane Amrabat for Ayoub Bouaddi and Bilal El Khannous.
Dembélé succeeded in doubling the lead with a second goal in the 66th minute with a powerful shot that Bounou tried to save but failed.
Mbappé was substituted in the 77th minute after feeling an ankle injury.
The 83rd minute saw the Moroccan national team's first and only shot of the match by Azzedine Ounahi, which Maignan saved successfully.
The match calmed down after France secured their lead.
France's national team advances to the semi-finals, awaiting the winner of the match between Spain and Belgium.
