France missed a penalty inside the first half and it changed nothing. Mbappé waited out a VAR delay of more than three minutes, then watched Bounou push his kick away. For a spell Morocco had something to hold on to. Then France scored twice in six minutes and the tie was over. Deschamps’ side reached a third straight World Cup semi-final on Thursday night in Foxborough without ever needing a second gear, and they did it as the team sitting in the other half of England’s draw.
France’s route to the final is the smoothest of the eight
Every other side left in this tournament has had to survive something along the way. Argentina came from two goals down against Egypt inside the last 20 minutes. Switzerland needed penalties to see off Colombia. England spent most of an hour against Mexico down to 10 men. France have had none of it. They have won all six of their matches inside 90 minutes and have not been dragged to extra time once, the only quarter-finalist who can still say that. France have sidestepped the sort of scares that have run through the rest of the World Cup 2026 knockout bracket, where late comebacks and penalty shootouts have decided who goes home.
The win over Morocco followed the same pattern as the rest. Deschamps’ side kept the ball without forcing it, waited for the game to stretch, and punished Morocco the moment it did. There was no late scare to ride out, and at no point did the result look in doubt. France have turned the most demanding tournament in football into a run of afternoons that rarely trouble them, and they stand one win from a third consecutive final.
Mbappé and Dembélé are carrying France when it counts
The penalty miss should have rattled him. Mbappé had stood over the ball through a long VAR check on what was his 20th World Cup appearance for France, then saw Bounou get down to his left and save it. Most players carry a moment like that into the interval and beyond. Mbappé scored on the hour instead, curling a left-footed shot into the far corner for his eighth goal of the tournament and his 20th at World Cups, a mark no other France player has reached.
Six minutes later he turned provider, rolling the ball into Dembélé’s path for a low finish past Bounou. That was Dembélé’s fifth of the summer, and it put the game beyond Morocco. Mbappé now leads the Golden Boot race, level with Messi on eight goals but ahead on the assist tiebreak, three to Messi’s one. He also became the only player to record 10 or more direct goal involvements at two separate World Cups. A rare bad moment cost France nothing, because the two men at the top of their attack keep scoring regardless.
Morocco barely laid a glove on Deschamps’ side
Morocco came into this as the tournament’s best story and left having created almost nothing. Their expected goals for the match came in at 0.14, against France’s 3.04, and Maignan spent the night without a save worth the name. Brahim Díaz and Azzedine Ounahi found early pockets in the second half, but neither forced the France goalkeeper into anything. The Atlas Lions had knocked out Canada and reached a second straight World Cup quarter-final, the first African side to manage back-to-back last-eight appearances, yet the gap in quality was clear from the opening exchanges.
They leave as the last African team in the tournament, which will sting given what their 2022 run promised. There is no disgrace in losing to this France by two goals. Better-resourced sides than Morocco will not get as far, and few will lose to Les Bleus by a narrower margin.
Why England should be watching France closely
Here is the part that matters for anyone following England. France are in the top half of the bracket, waiting on the winner of Friday’s meeting between Spain and Belgium, with their semi-final in Dallas on 14 July. England are in the bottom half, with Norway to come in Miami on Saturday and Argentina or Switzerland beyond that. Anyone building Saturday around the Miami quarter-final can check how to watch every World Cup 2026 game free in the UK before kick-off. The two cannot meet before the final on 19 July. If England are going to win this tournament, the likeliest team standing in their way at the last is the one that just brushed Morocco aside.
There is a personal thread running through it too. Kane sits on six tournament goals, two behind Mbappé, and a deep England run would put the pair in direct competition for the Golden Boot as well as the trophy. Tuchel has built a side that defends well and scores enough to keep winning. Whether that holds up against a France attack operating at this level is a question England will only have to answer if they get past Haaland and Norway first.
Nobody left in the draw has looked like living with France yet. Whether England turn out to be the team asked to try, and whether they have the firepower to manage it, is something this tournament will not settle for another nine days.
