Foxborough, Massachusetts - France has been sent to the World Cup semifinals after it beat Morocco 2–1 during a showdown on Thursday, comfortably pushing past a first-half penalty miss by Kylian Mbappe.
Mbappe's weak spot-kick was easily saved by Moroccan goalkeeper Yassine Bounou during the game's first half, but he made up for that by producing a brilliant curling finish to make it 1–0 on the hour mark.
That was Mbappe's eighth goal of the tournament, moving him level again with Lionel Messi in the race for the Golden Boot, before he came off late on and watched the match's final minutes with an ice pack around his right ankle.
Before exiting, he set up Ousmane Dembele to run through and settle the contest, watched by 63,811 at the Gillette Stadium, knocking Morocco out just as they did in 2022.
Their 2–0 win four years ago in Qatar came in the semifinals, and this time the victory for Les Bleus takes them through to the last four. They will face Spain or Belgium in Dallas next Tuesday.
France is looking to reach a third consecutive World Cup final in their last tournament before long-serving coach Didier Deschamps stands down.
Winners in 2018 and runners-up in 2022, it has felt like they have eased through to another semifinal, too strong for a Moroccan team lacking firepower in the absence of the injured Ismael Saibari.
Mbappe is one of the greatest goal-scorers of his generation, and the World Cup continues to bring the very best out of him.
After netting braces in the group-stage wins over Senegal and Iraq, as well as the last-32 defeat of Sweden, he got the only goal from the penalty spot against Paraguay in the last round.