2026 World Cup: Mbappé, Dembélé Shine as France advance past Morocco

France qualified for the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup, winning a convincing 2-0 against Morocco with an amazing performance by Kylian Mbappé, who not only scored the winning goal but also scored in a penalty shoot-out.

Despite a disappointing first half, the 2018 world champions came back in style in the second half to deny Morocco their wonderful World Cup tournament, advancing two steps closer to lifting their second world trophy.

France got an opportunity to be ahead in the game in the 28th minute after being awarded a penalty. But unfortunately, Moroccan goalie Yassine Bounou was able to save the French captain in a penalty shoot-out, thus resulting in a nil-nil draw between the teams.

The French squad managed to score in the 60th minute of the match. Désiré Doué passed the ball to Mbappé, who brilliantly shot the ball past Bounou to score a well-deserved goal for his team.

It only took six more minutes for France to double their lead. The provider was now Mbappé as he released Dembelé to put the ball in the back of the net and make the job very difficult for Morocco.

Morocco, who is the last African country in this year’s World Cup, could not replicate the attacking prowess which saw them through to the quarterfinals stage of the competition. Despite making several changes, Morocco did not have any trouble for the French team’s defense in the dying minutes of the match.

The win means that France will proceed to the semifinal round, where they will be up against the winner of Friday’s quarterfinal match between Spain and Belgium.