FOXBOROUGH, Mass : Kylian Mbappe recovered from a first-half penalty miss to score as France beat Morocco 2-0 on Thursday, securing a place in the FIFA World Cup semi-finals for the third consecutive tournament.
Mbappe curled home just after the hour mark before Ousmane Dembele doubled France’s advantage six minutes later to set up a last-four clash with either Belgium or Spain.
The 27-year-old captain became the youngest player to reach 20 World Cup appearances and took his tally to 20 goals in the competition, moving level with Lionel Messi on eight goals in the race for this tournament’s Golden Boot while closing the gap to the Argentine in the all-time World Cup scoring charts.
“That’s three (semi-finals) in a row — it’s good,” France coach Didier Deschamps told reporters.
“It seems logical and natural, but you still have to get the job done. It was tricky, the penalty… when it’s Kylian. He never has any doubts.
“But we’re exactly where we wanted to be. We’re taking another step forward today, finding ourselves in the final four once again. It shows we’re right there in the mix.”
Mbappe was substituted late in the match after appearing to suffer a knock to his ankle.
France, who also eliminated Morocco in the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup, dominated throughout and kept a clean sheet for the third successive knockout match.
Morocco, who were without injured forward Ismael Saibari, failed to register a shot on target until the 84th minute.
“We are very disappointed. We wanted to advance,” Morocco coach Mohamed Ouahbi said.
“We have to recognise that France is a great team with excellent players. France had the better scoring opportunities. We lacked ideas and freshness, and we have to accept this defeat.
“Today France were stronger, but we are able to compete and progress and maybe eliminate them in four years’ time.”
France made the brighter start and Mbappe forced goalkeeper Yassine Bounou into an early save before earning a penalty in the 28th minute.
Bounou guessed correctly to deny the French captain from the spot, handing Mbappe his first penalty miss for the national team since Euro 2020.
Lucas Digne then struck the crossbar from distance in first-half stoppage time as France continued to dominate against a Morocco side that failed to attempt a shot before the break.
Mbappe made amends in the 60th minute, cutting inside before bending a precise effort beyond Bounou.
Dembele doubled the lead six minutes later, finishing clinically after Mbappe’s movement created space inside the penalty area.
“A mission? I don’t know, but we can’t afford to let up,” Mbappe said.
“There’s still a long way to go, and what lies ahead is even tougher, but we’ll recover well.”
