France defeated Morocco 2-0 in Boston on Friday to reach the semifinals of the 2026 World Cup.
After a goalless first half, France overcame the resilient Moroccans with goals came from Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele in the second half.
France previously eliminated Morocco in the 2022 World Cup semifinals in Qatar.
But France faced an injury scare as Mbappe had to be substituted in the 77th minute when the team was already leading 2-0. .
The two-time world champions will hope Mbappe hasn’t suffered a serious injury.
Friday’s goal took the Real Madrid superstar’s tally to eight goals in the tournament as the 27-year-old now has 20 goals in his World Cup career.
The comfortable win helped France earn their third straight World Cup semifinal appearance.
They will take on the winners of the quarterfinal clash between European champions Spain and Belgium.
The match will kick off on Friday at 11pm UAE time.
Playing without injured forward Ismael Saibari, the Atlas Lions were second- best for most of the afternoon, only finally forcing France goalkeeper Mike Maignan into a save from Azzedine Ounahi’s effort from distance in the 83rd minute.
Mbappe’s 60th-minute strike from the left side of the penalty arc tied him with Argentina’s Lionel Messi for the tournament Golden Boot lead.
It came on what had been a frustrating encounter for him to that point, having seen his poorly struck first-half penalty saved by Yassine Bounou.
But after finding himself as the recipient of a deflected ball at the top of the 18, he curled a right-footed effort around defender Issa Diop and narrowly inside Bounou’s left post.
Dembele doubled the lead six minutes later on a counterattack as Morocco had no choice but to try and send numbers forward.
This time it was Mbappe making a run into the left side of the penalty area to clear space. Instead, Dembele unleashed his own right-footed shot from about 20 yards out, and while Bounou got a hand to it, he could not keep it from nestling in the bottom right corner. (with inputs from Reuters)
Source: Khaleej Times