At the 2022 World Cup, France ended Morocco’s fairytale run. On Thursday night, they did it again.
Kylian Mbappe recovered from seeing his first-half penalty saved to break Morocco’s stubborn resistance on the hour mark and Ousmane Dembele added a second four minutes later to set up a semi-final against either Spain or Belgium.
It was Mbappe’s eighth goal of the tournament, Dembele’s fifth. After a frustrating first half, France showed once again they have the firepower to blow any team away as they aim to give departing coach Didier Deschamps the perfect send-off with a third World Cup success.
Seven of the players who started that victory in Qatar four years ago began this quarter-final in Boston. Morocco had four survivors. One of them was Yassine Bounou, who had to be at his brilliant best to keep France at bay in a first half Les Bleus dominated, but were continually frustrated by the Moroccan goalkeeper.
He was called into action twice in the opening four minutes. First, he turned away Mbappe's shot and was again up to the task of denying Dayot Upamecano’s header from the resulting corner.
Morocco’s progression since the last World Cup has seen them develop into one of the best attacking teams at this one.
But there was precious little evidence of it here, the absence of the injured Ismael Saibari, scorer of three goals at these finals, was pronounced and painfully obvious.
The Atlas Lions were content to sit deep and soak up French pressure. The one time they ventured forward, it nearly cost them a goal.
Michael Olise broke up the Moroccan attack and advanced with the ball to feed Mbappe. Noussair Mazraoui was always struggling to keep up with the jet-heeled Frenchman, and as Mbappe pushed the ball beyond him, the Moroccan defender’s desperate lunge only resulted in giving away a penalty.
Morocco resorted to delaying tactics in the hope of putting Mbappe off. It worked. Mbappe’s penalty was a shocker. Including shoot-outs, Bounou has now saved four penalties at World Cups. He won’t save an easier one for the rest of his career.
Desire Doue, picked ahead of Bradley Barcola, was next to test Bounou after picking Ayyoub Bouaddi’s pocket. The Al Hilal goalkeeper did well to get low to his right to keep the score level.
Lucas Digne did have Bounou beat in first-half injury time, but the crossbar came to the goalkeeper’s rescue as Morocco continued to ride their luck.
In all, nine French players had a shot at Bounou’s goal in the first half. Only one Morocco player registered a shot, a lame Achraf Hakimi free kick before the interval.
Morocco kept their opponents waiting, delaying the start of the second half by several minutes.
Bounou made his fifth save of the match on 54 minutes, comfortably gathering up Doue’s effort.
Ten minutes later, Bounou and Morocco were heading for a World Cup exit.
Mbappe made up for his earlier mistake by collecting the ball on the edge of the area. He had only the far corner of Bounou’s goal to aim at, and he targeted it with the precision of a player with designs on being remembered as the most prolific finisher in World Cup history.
He now has 20 World Cup goals in as many games and his eight goals in North America equals his tally of four years ago in Qatar and sees him tied with Lionel Messi in the race for this year's Golden Boot.
Mbappe played a part in France's second goal, too. His darting run had Mazraoui caught in two minds over whether to track or close down the ball, allowing Dembele to advance forward and stroke home. Bounou got a hand to it and should arguably have done better, but given his earlier heroics, it felt harsh on the Morocco stopper.
It was the final nail in the coffin. Morocco, trailblazers for African and Arab teams four years ago, quarter-finalists for a second successive tournament, were second best here to a rampant French team that must now surely fancy their chances of going all the way to the final.
To get there, they will have to overcome the winners of Spain-Belgium. Win that one, and they will become only the third team in history to reach three consecutive World Cup final matches.
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