FOXBOROUGH, Massachusetts, July 10 — France captain Kylian Mbappe missed a penalty but scored a superb curling effort as Les Bleus struck twice in six minutes to brush aside Morocco 2-0 on Thursday and book their place in the FIFA World Cup semi-finals.
Mbappe, who at 27 became the youngest player to reach 20 World Cup appearances, also netted his 20th World Cup goal with a curling shot from just inside the penalty area before Ousmane Dembele doubled France's lead six minutes later with a low drive, setting up a last-four meeting with either Belgium or Spain.
Mbappe is the tournament's joint top scorer with eight goals, level with Lionel Messi, and trails the Argentine by just one goal on the World Cup's all-time scoring list.
"That’s three (semi-finals) in a row — it’s good," France coach Didier Deschamps said.
"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," added Deschamps, who substituted Mbappe late in the match after the forward suffered a knock to his ankle.
"We’re taking another step forward today, finding ourselves in the final four once again. It shows we’re right there in the mix."
In a repeat of the 2022 World Cup semi-final, France, who have now kept clean sheets in all three knockout matches, looked the more dangerous side throughout. Morocco, aiming for a second successive appearance in the last four, sorely missed injured forward Ismael Saibari and failed to register a shot on target until the 84th minute.
"We are very disappointed. We wanted to advance," said Morocco coach Mohamed Ouahbi.
"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," he added.
Morocco will co-host the 2030 World Cup alongside Spain and Portugal.
Mbappe equals Lloris record
France, bidding to become only the third nation to reach three consecutive World Cup finals, started brightly and created several early opportunities.
Mbappe, who also equalled the French record for World Cup appearances held by Hugo Lloris, tested Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou with a low strike that was tipped wide.
France were awarded a penalty in the 28th minute after Mbappe was brought down, but Bounou guessed correctly and smothered the forward's low effort. It was Mbappe's first penalty miss for the national team since Euro 2020.
The tournament favourites also struck the crossbar in first-half stoppage time through Lucas Digne's powerful long-range effort, while defensive-minded Morocco struggled to threaten and failed to produce a single attempt, either on or off target, in the opening half, with Brahim Diaz operating as the lone striker.
Mbappe made amends for his missed penalty on the hour mark, glancing up before curling home a brilliant finish. Before Morocco could recover, the two-time world champions struck again through Dembele.
The forward, who forms a formidable attacking trio with Mbappe and Michael Olise, took advantage of the space created by his captain's run to rifle home his fifth goal of the tournament.
"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."
