Four years after France ended Morocco’s World Cup dream in Qatar, the two met again with the stakes still high. One side was chasing a third straight semi-final, the other was trying to get back to the stage where their greatest ever run was cut short.
Around them were all the other layers that this match now entails: Kylian Mbappé and Achraf Hakimi as friends turned opponents for a night, two teams formed by overlapping histories, and the sense that Morocco had arrived not to relive 2022 but to challenge its end.
For a while, it felt like Yassine Bounou might turn the night in her favor. He parried, pushed away, stretched, delayed and left France’s superiority unrewarded for a long time. But some World Cup evenings ultimately tend towards their inevitable figure.
AS IT HAPPENED: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE Quarter-final France versus Morocco
Mbappé discovered, after saving a penalty and denying chance after chance, that no resistance could survive. And once the breakthrough came, Ousmane Dembélé followed suit, sealing a 2-0 victory that took France to another semi-final and left Morocco with the same old scar.
The Blues immediately came to Morocco, as if determined to complete the quarter-final before it was properly arranged. Within the first five minutes, Bounou had already been called into sharp action twice: first to push away Mbappé’s snap shot and then to parry Dayot Upamecano’s bouncing header. The opening exchange had the feel of a siege before the gates were properly closed.
Morocco took its time to take the match to the French half. Hakimi, usually the most dangerous attacking channel, was kept away from advanced areas and barely had any meaningful touch in the opponent’s half. But when the Moroccan captain began to venture forward, France promptly found the space it wanted to attack. It targeted the gap left behind and Désiré Doué quickly slid the ball into Mbappé’s path.
While the attacker needed a tap to position himself, Noussair Mazraoui brought him down. The referee pointed to the spot but then took time for a monitor check before confirming the decision.
Bounou also won this game, waiting for Mbappe to roll his effort before diving low to his left to keep the score untouched. The France captain walked away sad, perhaps the futile wait – three minutes and 11 seconds between the first call and the shot – tricked even the most determined player in a World Cup quarter-final.
The chances kept coming, but Bounou kept punching them away, his limbs stretching in all directions, like one of those inflatable tube men outside a roadside stall.
But just in time, his vigil was finally broken by Mbappe, who has a habit of making even the bravest acts of survival feel futile. The Moroccan defense froze for a split second, and that was enough as the Real Madrid star fired in a topspin effort from the edge of the penalty area for his 20th World Cup goal.
After that, France was unstoppable.
Dembele, unwilling to be overshadowed by his senior partner, was allowed to advance through the middle without anyone stopping him. The Ballon d’Or holder fired a low shot to the bottom right, with Bounou getting a hand on it, but not enough to keep it out.
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Morocco pressed on in the scorching heat of Foxborough in search of an equalizer. Azzedine Ounahi came closest and forced Mike Maignan into alert action, despite an otherwise quiet evening.
The league’s only remaining African team had come to Boston hoping to revisit an old pain and perhaps bend history in a different direction. Instead, France’s familiar ruthlessness carried the country further. Despite all Bounou’s resistance, Mbappé ensured the evening ended as these World Cup nights so often do – with Les Bleus still moving forward.
Published on July 10, 2026
