France make light work of Morocco en-route to World Cup semi-finals

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 France 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.

N/A

He made amends in the second half as he put France ahead in tremendous fashion before Dembele doubled their lead with his fifth goal of the World Cup.

Morocco were aiming for a second successive World Cup 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 France 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.

N/A

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 Morocco 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 Morocco 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 was substituted in the 77th minute after picking up a knock on his ankle, but said he is fine.

N/A

He told FIFA.com: “I have a minor ankle injury, but I’m completely fine. (Jean-Philippe) Mateta was in a better position to play the remaining minutes of the match and was fitter at that moment. That’s all that happened.”

Morocco head coach, Mohamed Ouahbi said: “The future will be bright if we continue like this, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t want to win today.

“Of course we wanted to win today. We did everything we could to win, but we faced a very difficult opponent. It’s a disappointment, of course, but we’ll keep working for the future.”