By Karolos Grohmann
FOXBOROUGH, MA, July 9 (Reuters) – France captain Kylian Mbappe missed a penalty but curled in a superb goal on the hour as France struck twice in six minutes to brush aside Morocco 2-0 on Thursday and book their spot in the World Cup semi-finals.
Mbappe, who at 27 became the youngest player to rack up 20 World Cup appearances, also bagged his 20th World Cup goal with a curling shot from just inside the box before Ousmane Dembele added another six minutes later with a low drive to set up a last-four meeting with Belgium or Spain.
Mbappe is the tournament’s joint top scorer with eight goals, level with Lionel Messi, and he trails the Argentine by one goal in the World Cup all-time scoring list.
“That’s three (semi-finals) in a row — it’s good,” France coach Didier Deschamps said. “It seems logical and natural, but you still have to get the job done. It was tricky, the penalty… when it’s Kylian. He never has any doubts.
“But we’re exactly where we wanted to be,” said Deschamps, who substituted Mbappe late in the game after a knock to his ankle. “We’re taking another step forward today, finding ourselves in the final four once again. It shows we’re right there in the mix.”
In a repeat of the 2022 World Cup semi-final, France, who have now kept clean sheets in all three knockout matches, looked the hungrier throughout with Morocco, aiming for a second straight last-four spot, badly missing injured forward Ismael Saibari, and failing to get a shot on target until the 84th minute.
“We are very disappointed, we wanted to advance,” said Morocco coach Mohamed Ouahbi. “We have to recognise that France is a great team with excellent players. France had the better scoring opportunities. We lacked ideas and freshness, and we have to accept this defeat.
“Today France were stronger but we are able to compete and progress and maybe eliminate them in four years’ time,” Ouahbi said. Morocco are co-hosting the 2030 World Cup with Spain and Portugal.
MBAPPE EQUALS LLORIS RECORD
The French, bidding to become only the third nation to reach three consecutive World Cup finals, started strongly with a couple of early chances.
Mbappe, who also equalled the all-time French record held by Hugo Lloris for World Cup matches, had an early opportunity with a low drive that Morocco keeper Yassine Bounou managed to tip wide.
France earned a 28th-minute penalty through Mbappe but Bounou calmly stood his ground, picked the correct side and smothered the France forward’s low effort. It was Mbappe’s first penalty miss for the national team since Euro 2020.
The title favourites also hit the crossbar in first-half stoppage time through Lucas Digne’s powerful long-distance drive, as defensive-minded Morocco struggled to reach their opponents’ box and did not have an effort on or off target in the entire first half, with Brahim Diaz as the lone striker.
Mbappe made amends for his miss on the hour mark with a quick look up and superb finish, and before Morocco had time to recover the twice world champions struck again through Dembele.
The forward, who forms a formidable frontline with Mbappe and Michael Olise, made use of the space opened up by Mbappe’s run to rifle in the second goal and his fifth of the tournament.
“A mission? I don’t know but we can’t afford to let up,” Mbappe said. “There’s still a long way to go, and what lies ahead is even tougher, but we’ll recover well.”
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Ed Osmond)
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