End of the road for Morocco as France zoom into World Cup semis
France earned a 2-0 win over Morocco to qualify for the 2026 World Cup semi-finals on Thursday at the Boston Stadium.
The 2022 finalists enjoyed an impressive start to the encounter.
Morocco goalkeeper made two quickfire saves in the first four minutes to deny Kylian Mbappe and Dayot Upamecano.
Kylian Mbappe missed from the penalty spot after he was fouled by Noussair Mazraoui in the 28th minute.
France dominated the first half with Bounou denying the 2018 Champions as Morocco struggled to get hold of the game.
Both teams failed to break the deadlock in the first half as it ended goalless.
15 minutes after the restart, Mbappe produced a stunning finish from outside the box to open the scoring for France.
Six minutes later, Ousmane Dembele made it 2-0 with another goal outside the box to take advantage of Morocco’s breakaway move.
Substitute Mateta missed a great chance to make it 3-0 after his effort was saved by Bounou before France held on to seal a deserved victory.
They will take on the winner between Belgium and Spain on Tuesday in the semi-final.
It was a disappointing performance from Morocco who failed to click against the two-time champions of the tournament.
Read Also: Divided opinions as fans react to officiating of Egypt vs Argentina thriller
Mbappe has now scored eight goals in the tournament while Ousmane Dembele has scored five goals.
Top Stats From France vs Morocco
5 – France in 2026 are the first team to have two players score 5+ goals in a single World Cup since Brazil in 2002.
🇧🇷 Ronaldo (8) & Rivaldo (5)
🇫🇷 Kylian Mbappé (8) & Ousmane Dembélé (5)
10 – 🇫🇷 Kylian Mbappe has registered 10 goal involvements in each of his last two FIFA World Cups – he’s only the only player on record since 1966 to achieve this in two different tournaments.
8 goals, 2 assists in 2022
8 goals, 2 assists in 2026
1.87 – France’s xG of 1.87 was the most by a team who’ve failed to score in the first half of a 2026 World Cup match.
4 – Yassine Bounou has saved four World Cup penalties, the joint most by a goalkeeper since 1966 (incl. shoot-outs).
2 – Including shoot-outs, Yassine Bounou has only been beaten by two out of nine penalties he’s faced at the World Cup (saved four, three missed the target).
Ousmane Dembélé has now scored the same amount of World Cup goals for France as Michel Platini, Olivier Giroud and Zinedine Zidane (5).
Yassine Bounou is the first Moroccan goalkeeper to save a penalty outside of a shoot-out in World Cup history.
2 – There’s only been four occasions in the last 60 years a player has scored, assisted and missed a penalty in a World Cup match – two have been in the last three days…
🇦🇷 Lionel Messi vs Egypt
🇫🇷 Kylian Mbappé vs Morocco
