France knocked out Morocco in Thursday’s first World Cup quarterfinal with a 2-0 score that meant the same result as when the two countries last faced off four years ago in the semifinals in Qatar.
The French were threatening from the opening minutes, creating a flurry of chances on the pitch at Gillette Stadium, near Boston. Despite thirteen efforts before half-time, they were denied by a well-organised Moroccan defence and a vigilant Yassine Bounou, with the score locked at 0-0.
The key moment of the first half was a missed penalty by the French captain Kylian Mbappé in the 28th minute. After a long wait before being able to step up, the forward saw his attempt comfortably saved by the Moroccan goalkeeper.
Another highlight came in stoppage time at the end of the first half, when Lucas Digne unleashed a spectacular shot from 25 metres that crashed against Bounou’s crossbar.
With very few attacking chances, Morocco landed only one shot on goal, and that came in the 82nd minute while already trailing by two goals.
“They had no real forwards using their speed in the wide areas,” France coach Didier Deschamps said. “We were possessing the ball, they had no way to be dangerous to us.”
Despite France’s dominance, Morocco held out until the break without conceding, sticking rigorously to their game plan.
In the 60th minute, Kylian Mbappé broke the deadlock, scoring his eighth goal of the tournament and his twentieth in the World Cup. Six minutes later, Ousmane Dembélé doubled the lead, effectively settling the contest and bringing back painful memories for the Atlas Lions.
Having taken a knock to the ankle, the France captain left the pitch in the 78th minute after taking time to salute the supporters, and was replaced by Jean-Philippe Mateta.
“The future will be bright if we continue like this, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t want to win today. Of course, we wanted to win today,” Morocco coach Mohamed Ouahbi said after the match.
“We did everything we could to win, but we faced a very difficult opponent. It’s a disappointment, of course, but we’ll keep working for the future.”
The victory sends France into a third consecutive World Cup semifinal on Tuesday. They will discover their opponents on Friday, after the quarterfinal between Spain and Belgium.
Emmanuel Macron was quick to respond on social media, expressing his “pride” in the France team that prevailed against an “immense opponent this evening, as it was four years ago”.
“France are in the semi-finals, with panache and fraternity”, the head of state concluded.
The French embassy in Morocco, for its part, hailed a “great moment of football”.
“One team continues to pursue its dream, the other can be proud of its exceptional journey”, the diplomats wrote on X, adding that Franco-Moroccan friendship “continues to be written day after day”.
Additional sources • AP