France 2-0 Morocco — Mbappé Sends Les Bleus to World Cup Semis
- Jul 10
- 4 min read
France is headed back to the World Cup semifinals. Kylian Mbappé scored one goal and set up another Thursday night in Foxborough, Massachusetts, as Les Bleus dispatched Morocco 2-0 in a quarterfinal that felt closer to a coronation than a contest. The victory books France a spot in Tuesday's semifinal in Dallas and keeps alive the team's pursuit of a third World Cup title, four years after falling agonizingly short against Argentina in the 2022 final in Qatar.
The night was not without drama for France's captain. Mbappé stepped to the penalty spot in the first half with a chance to give his side the lead and saw his effort turned away, a rare blemish on an otherwise commanding tournament. For a stretch afterward, Morocco's defensive shell held firm and the Atlas Lions carried the faint hope of another famous World Cup upset into the second half.
That hope lasted until the hour mark. In the 60th minute, Mbappé made amends in emphatic fashion, finishing off a flowing French move for the 20th World Cup goal of his career — a staggering total that further cements his place among the tournament's all-time greats. The strike broke Morocco's resistance and visibly lifted a French side that had been probing for openings all evening.
Six minutes later, the match was effectively over. Mbappé turned provider, sliding a pass to Ousmane Dembélé, who buried his fifth goal of the tournament to make it 2-0 in the 66th minute. Dembélé's scoring form has been one of the stories of this World Cup, and his partnership with Mbappé has given France an attacking edge few teams in the field can match.
The stat sheet told the story of French dominance. Les Bleus piled up a 21-4 advantage in total shots and an 8-1 edge in shots on target, controlling territory and tempo for long stretches. Morocco, so resolute throughout the knockout rounds, simply could not generate enough possession in dangerous areas to trouble the French back line.
The result carried echoes of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, when France ended Morocco's historic semifinal run — the first by an African nation — by the same 2-0 scoreline. Four years later, the Atlas Lions again depart with pride intact but the same French wall standing between them and history.
For Morocco, the loss stings, but the tournament reaffirmed the program's standing among the world's elite. Back-to-back deep World Cup runs are no accident, and the core of this squad, along with a golden generation of young talent, suggests the Atlas Lions will remain a knockout-round fixture for years to come.
France now awaits the winner of Friday's quarterfinal between Spain and Belgium, with the semifinal set for Tuesday, July 14 — Bastille Day — at 3:00 p.m. ET in Dallas. The other half of the bracket features Norway against England and Argentina against Colombia on Saturday, with those winners meeting Wednesday in Atlanta.
The path to the July 19 final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey is coming into focus, and France once again looks like the team to beat. Les Bleus have now reached the semifinals in three consecutive World Cups — a run of sustained excellence unmatched in the modern era of the tournament.
Mbappé's evening also nudged him deeper into the record books. At 27, he sits at 20 World Cup goals with at least two matches still to play in this tournament, closing in on territory once thought untouchable. Every goal from here extends a resume that already includes a World Cup title in 2018 and a hat trick in the 2022 final.
For American fans, the first World Cup on home soil since 1994 keeps delivering marquee matchups even after the host nation's round-of-16 exit. A potential France-Spain semifinal in Dallas would pit the tournament favorites against each other with a place in the final on the line.
The message from Foxborough was unmistakable: France has another gear, and nobody has forced them to use it yet. Whoever emerges from the rest of the bracket will have to solve a team that combines championship pedigree, the tournament's most lethal attacker, and a supporting cast playing its best soccer at exactly the right time.
There is also a tactical subplot worth watching ahead of Dallas. Didier Deschamps has rotated his midfield throughout the knockout rounds, and the balance he found against Morocco — patient buildup punctuated by sudden vertical bursts from Mbappé and Dembélé — looked like the blueprint for beating compact, disciplined opponents. Against a possession-heavy side, France may happily concede the ball and hunt transitions, the formula that has served Les Bleus so well in recent tournaments.
Depth could prove the deciding factor in the final week. France absorbed rotation across the knockout rounds without any visible drop-off, and fresh legs off the bench changed the tempo again on Thursday. With the final set for July 19, squads with genuine two-deep talent at every position hold the advantage — and few rosters in the field are deeper than France's.
The stakes for the next ten days are enormous. A third World Cup title would move France alongside the sport's most decorated nations, trailing only Brazil's five, and it would further cement Didier Deschamps' place in tournament history, adding a third trophy as manager to the one he lifted as a player in 1998.
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