France 2-0 Morocco: Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele on target as Les Bleus reach World Cup semi-final

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9 July 2026

Les Bleus to face either Spain or Belgium in

World Cup

semi-final

Second half strikes from

Kylian Mbappe

and Ousmane Dembele helped

France

progress through to the semi-finals of the 2026

with a routine 2-0 victory over

Morocco

in Boston.

Mbappe scored his eighth goal of the tournament and went level with Lionel Messi at the top of the scoring charts in search of the golden boot.

The 27-year-old earned the chance to put

ahead from the penalty spot in the first period, but he aimed straight into the grasp of Yassine Bounou following a lengthy wait with the best chance of the half.

He made amends in the second half as he put

ahead in tremendous fashion before Dembele doubled their lead with his fifth goal of the

Deadlock broken: Kylian Mbappe made up for his first half missed penalty

AFP/Getty

Morocco were aiming for a second successive

semi-final but just like 2022, they were knocked out by the French who instead progressed through to the last four of the competition.

It did not take long for

to show their attacking intent and with four minutes on the clock Dayot Upamecano should have nodded them in front with a free header from six yards out, but it was saved by Bounou just a minute after he kept Mbappe out from range.

France had the chance to take the lead midway through the first period when Noussair Mazraoui brought down Mbappe inside the area.

The French striker picked himself up but was made to wait nearly three minutes before taking the spot kick, tamely hitting it to his right as Bounou was able to dive across and save the penalty.

France continued to be the team who played the more attacking football, Bounou was proving tough to beat in the early stages after he got down low to keep Desire Doue out from inside the area.

Morocco started the second period with a little more optimism than they showed in the first period and broke in a dangerous manner, but Brahim Diaz’s shot was blocked with their first chance from open play.

The tournament favourites then went ahead on the hour mark courtesy of Mbappe.

France wrestled possession back off

and Doue gave it to the

Real Madrid

striker, who let fly from 18 yards with an effort that nestled into the far corner and past Bounou’s despairing dive.

France were sitting a lot more comfortably as they doubled their lead just six minutes later.

Dembele was able to pick the ball up in the middle of the park and sprinted towards the

area, Mbappe did well to drag a couple of defenders out of his way before the

PSG

winger dispatched into the bottom right corner despite the best efforts of Bounou.

Mbappe is Mr World Cup and France look simply unstoppable after Morocco cruise

Football365

Mbappe redeems penalty miss as France knock out Morocco

GOAL

Watch: Kylian Mbappe stuns Morocco with brilliant goal and assist to send France into semi-finals

caughtoffside

⏪ France book first World Cup semi-final place with Morocco win

OneFootball

World Cup: Olise and Upamecano start for France as Morocco’s Saibari misses out

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