France beats Morocco 2-0 to reach third straight World Cup semifinal

France turned a first-half penalty miss into another ruthless knockout win, beating Morocco 2-0 at Boston Stadium in Boston and reaching a third straight World Cup semifinal. Kylian Mbappé answered his own missed spot kick with the opening goal in the 60th minute, then slipped a pass to Ousmane Dembélé for the clincher six minutes later.

Yassine Bounou denied Mbappé from the penalty spot in the first half, but the France captain did not stay quiet for long. He scored from the edge of the area to break the deadlock and later created Dembélé’s finish, a sequence that again showed how France can stay patient until its biggest names decide the result.

The win kept alive the chance of a third consecutive World Cup final for France, which won the trophy in 2018 and finished runner-up in Qatar in 2022. It also extended a perfect run through the tournament, after victories over Senegal 3-1, Iraq 3-0, Norway 4-1, Sweden 3-0 and Paraguay 1-0. That blend of control and finishing power has become France’s defining edge in this World Cup: the team has done enough to survive every stage, then trusted Mbappé and Dembélé to settle the biggest moments.

Mbappé entered the quarterfinal with 20 World Cup goals and the lead in the adidas Golden Boot race. His tally now sits just behind Lionel Messi in the tournament’s all-time scoring chart. Dembélé reached five goals in the 2026 tournament, becoming only the third Frenchman to score five times in a single World Cup, alongside Mbappé and Just Fontaine.

For Morocco, the defeat carried a hard echo of the past. France had already beaten Morocco 2-0 in the Qatar 2022 semifinals, and Morocco had come into the rematch still carrying the weight of that loss after making history as the first African team to reach a World Cup semifinal. The same opponent ended the same way again, underlining how difficult it is for an underdog run to survive once it meets a squad with France’s depth, composure and star power.