By Martin Weche
France beat Morocco 2-0 in a World Cup quarter-final in Boston yesterday to book a place in the semi-finals of the 2026 tournament. Goals from Kylian Mbappé in the 60th minute and Ousmane Dembélé in the 66th sent the defending runners-up through, with Les Bleus advancing to face the winner of Spain against Belgium.
The result was a near-exact replay of the 2022 World Cup semi-final in Qatar, when France also won 2-0 on their way to that year’s final. This time the stage was Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, and the outcome felt, if anything, more emphatic. France finished with 17 shots to Morocco’s two, and the Atlas Lions failed to register a single shot on target across the ninety minutes.
Morocco had arrived unbeaten in ten matches under new coach Mohamed Ouahbi, having eliminated the Netherlands on penalties and thrashed co-hosts Canada 3-0 in the round of sixteen. But they were without their leading scorer, Ismael Saibari, who had torn his hamstring against Canada and could not recover in time. His absence was felt keenly in an attack that had carried Morocco’s run through the tournament’s earlier rounds.
The breakthrough, when it came, was a moment of individual brilliance. Mbappé, using Moroccan defender Issa Diop as a screen, curled a finish beyond goalkeeper Yassine Bounou and into the top corner to open the scoring. Six minutes later Dembélé doubled the advantage with a low, precise strike that Bounou got a hand to but could not keep out. It was the third-fastest response of its kind by two attackers in tournament history, and it put the outcome beyond realistic doubt.
For Didier Deschamps, the France head coach who has confirmed he will step down after this World Cup, the win extended what has already been a remarkable fourteen-year reign. His side has now reached four consecutive World Cup quarter-finals, a feat only previously managed by the Soviet Union, Brazil and Germany. Ahead of the match, Deschamps had made clear he was taking nothing for granted against opponents he knows well. “We faced them four years ago in the semi-finals, and they’ve played in an Africa Cup of Nations final,” he said of Morocco. “They are a very, very good team with excellent players. They aren’t here by accident.”
Ouahbi, who took charge of Morocco only in March after guiding the nation’s Under-20 side to global glory, had spoken before kickoff of a determination not to repeat the frustrations of 2022. “The key is not to have any regrets,” he said, reflecting on a semi-final four years earlier that both he and his players had felt they let slip. He had also pushed back firmly on any suggestion that reaching the last eight was itself a success worth savouring. “France are favourites but we will do everything possible to win tomorrow and qualify for the semi-finals,” he said before the match. “The bonus is to win the World Cup.”
Beyond the scoreline, the fixture carried a weight that stretched past football. Morocco is a former French colony, and a large Moroccan diaspora lives across France, meaning the tie has long been read as more than a sporting contest between the two nations. Authorities in Paris and other major French cities had deployed several thousand police officers in anticipation of unrest, mindful that celebrations following the 2022 semi-final led to more than 250 arrests, many of them in the French capital.
For Morocco, the tournament nonetheless represents continued progress for African and Arab football. The Atlas Lions became the first side from either bloc to reach a World Cup semi-final in 2022, and Ouahbi’s young squad arrived in North America determined to build on that legacy rather than simply repeat it. That ambition now carries into a period of reflection for a team that, despite Thursday’s exit, leaves the tournament with its reputation for organisation and resilience largely intact.
France, meanwhile, march on with the look of a side few opponents will relish meeting. Mbappé has now scored eight goals at this World Cup, matching Lionel Messi’s tally from four years ago, and Les Bleus have won by more than one goal in five of their six matches so far. Whether Deschamps can guide his squad past the winner of Friday’s Spain-Belgium tie and toward a third consecutive World Cup final will define the closing chapter of his long and decorated tenure.
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