France once again earned a spot in the World Cup semifinal after securing a 2–0 quarterfinal victory over Morocco on July 9.
The match outside Boston was a repeat of the 2022 World Cup’s semifinal match, which also ended with France coming out on top 2–0.
France kicked off the 90 minutes with a strong attack, notching the first shot within the first five minutes and 13 shots total by the end of the first half. In fact, France went on to outshoot Morocco 13–1 in the first 45 minutes, with three shots on target. But Moroccan goalkeeper Yassine Bounou held strong, forcing both sides back to the locker room in a 0–0 stalemate.
But Kylian Mbappé found a way to break the ball across the threshold, rifling a curving shot from the top left of the penalty box past a diving, outstretched Bounou and into the top right corner of the net in the 60th minute.
It was his eighth goal of the tournament and his 20th career World Cup goal across 20 World Cup matches so far.
Six minutes later, Mbappé added an assist to the day’s stat sheet, setting off a play from center field to Ousmane Dembélé. Dembélé charged with the ball right down the middle of the pitch and fired a fast shot on the ground through traffic and into the bottom right corner of the net. He now has five goals in this tournament.
With that assist, Mbappé took the lead in the race for the Golden Boot—the award given to whomever scores the most goals in a World Cup competition. Although he left the match tied with Argentina’s Lionel Messi with eight goals so far in this tournament, the Frenchman takes the lead because he has more assists. Mbappé now has 11 combined goals and assists in this World Cup. Messi has one assist so far.
However, Mbappé went down in the 77th minute and was subbed out. He was seen watching the rest of the game with an ice pack taped to his ankle.
Morocco was the last of nine African teams that made it out of the initial group stage to be eliminated, falling just short of its performance in Qatar four years ago.
The Atlas Lions found themselves completely outmatched, outdone not only in shots on net, but also in duels won for ball control and interceptions. Their attempts to attack resulted in only five shots, with only one—a free kick in the 82nd minute—landing on target and forcing the one and only save from French goalkeeper Mike Maignan.
Team France now travels south to Dallas, where it will face either Belgium or Spain in the semifinals. The Belgium–Spain quarterfinal match will get underway at 3 p.m. ET on July 10 in Los Angeles. Spain was ranked the second-best team in the world going into this tournament, while France was ranked third-best. Argentina was ranked first.
Spain will be going into its quarterfinal match as the only team yet to concede a single goal in the 2026 World Cup.
