Boston. France became the first team to secure a place in the semi-finals of the 2026 FIFA World Cup after a commanding 2-0 victory over Morocco in their quarter-final on Thursday.
Goals from Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé sealed the win for Didier Deschamps’ side, who continued their impressive march towards a third World Cup title.
France will now face either Spain or Belgium in the semi-finals as they seek another appearance in the tournament’s final.
Mbappé broke the deadlock shortly after the hour mark with a superb curling effort after recovering from an earlier setback when his first-half penalty was saved.
Dembélé doubled France’s advantage six minutes later, taking advantage of space in the Moroccan defence to put the result beyond doubt.
The victory also marked another significant milestone for Mbappé.
His goal was the 20th of his World Cup career, drawing him level with Lionel Messi on the all-time World Cup scoring list.
He also moved on to eight goals at the 2026 finals, strengthening his position in the race for the tournament’s Golden Boot.
France controlled large spells of the contest and maintained another clean sheet in the knockout phase.
Morocco, the last African nation remaining in the tournament, struggled to create clear-cut opportunities against a disciplined French defence.
The result sends France into a third successive World Cup semi-final, underlining their consistency on football’s biggest stage.
Deschamps’ side has now won three consecutive knockout matches without conceding a goal and remains among the favourites to lift the trophy.
For Morocco, the defeat ended another memorable World Cup campaign.
The Atlas Lions battled throughout the tournament but were unable to repeat the heroics that carried them into the latter stages against one of the competition’s strongest teams.
Attention now turns to France’s semi-final, where they will meet the winner of the quarter-final between Spain and Belgium for a place in the 2026 FIFA World Cup final. “
