France booked their place in the semifinals of the 2026 FIFA World Cup with a 2-0 victory over Morocco at Boston Stadium on Thursday, Bold Sports reports.
The encounter was a repeat of the 2022 FIFA World Cup semifinal, and it ended with the same scoreline. Goals from Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele secured another win for Les Bleus, sending them into the last four.
France dominated the opening half and created a number of scoring opportunities, but Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou produced an outstanding display to keep his side in the contest.
Bounou made his presence felt early, first turning behind Mbappe’s long-range effort before producing another excellent save to deny Dayot Upamecano’s header just four minutes into the match.
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Les Bleus were awarded a penalty in the 25th minute after Noussair Mazraoui fouled Mbappe inside the box. Following a lengthy VAR review, the decision stood, but Bounou came to Morocco’s rescue once again by diving the right way to save Mbappe’s spot-kick.
The Moroccan shot-stopper continued his heroics in the 35th minute, keeping out Desire Doue’s low strike from the edge of the box after the PSG youngster found space to shoot. Moments before halftime, Lucas Digne came close to breaking the deadlock with a spectacular long-range effort that crashed against the crossbar.
Bounou remained in inspired form after the restart, making another fine save to deny Doue’s powerful effort in the 54th minute. A few minutes later, Mbappe nearly found the breakthrough, but his attempt sailed over the crossbar.
France’s persistence eventually paid off on the hour mark as Mbappe continued his impressive tournament, curling a superb effort into the far corner to hand his side a deserved lead, taking him level with Lionel Messi on the leading goal-scorers chart (8).
Just six minutes later, France doubled their advantage through Ousmane Dembele. The PSG forward collected a pass from Mbappe, drove towards goal and curled a low effort into the bottom corner beyond the reach of Bounou.
Upamecano almost gifted Morocco a route back into the contest in the 72nd minute after his poor clearance conceded a corner. The Atlas Lions continued to search for a response and registered their first shot on target in the 83rd minute, but Mike Maignan comfortably dealt with Azzedine Ounahi’s effort.
Morocco continued to press deep into stoppage time, but France remained solid defensively to seal a place in the semifinals, where they will take on either Spain or Belgium at Dallas Stadium on July 14.
For Morocco, the defeat brings another impressive World Cup campaign to an end. Although they were unable to match their historic run to the semifinals in 2022, the Atlas Lions once again showed their quality and left the tournament with plenty of optimism for the future.
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