France beat Morocco 2-0 to reach a third straight World Cup semi-final. Mbappé’s curler and missed penalty, Dembélé’s strike, and what the 0.14 xG really said

France beat Morocco 2-0 at Gillette Stadium outside Boston on Thursday, 9 July, and are into a third straight World Cup semi-final. Kylian Mbappé bent in the opener on 60 minutes and teed up Ousmane Dembélé six minutes later. He also missed a first-half penalty, saved by Yassine Bounou, so the captain handed us the miss and the redemption in a single night. FRA now wait on Spain or Belgium in the last four.

Les Bleus vs the Atlas Lions was sold as the tie of the round. It never turned into one.

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How France beat Morocco to reach the semi-final

FRA took charge from the first whistle and won on the weight of chances, not on one flashpoint. They carved out three big openings before the break and then finished the job after it through Mbappé and Dembélé.

The first half had everything bar a goal. Mbappé forced an early save from Bounou. Dayot Upamecano headed over from close in when he really should have scored. Then came the flashpoint on 27 minutes: VAR pulled the referee to the monitor and a penalty followed after Noussair Mazraoui caught Mbappé in the box. The wait was the story. Opta timed three minutes and eleven seconds between Mbappé winning the kick and striking it, and the stutter-step run-up produced a weak effort that Bounou saved comfortably.

Even Erling Haaland, killing time in Norway’s camp before his own quarter-final, took a swipe at the delay. “Need to wait five min to take a penalty is way too long,” he wrote on Snapchat. Fair point.

The goal arrived on the hour. Désiré Doué, FRA’s liveliest player all night, slipped Kylian in on the edge of the box, and the captain curled a right-footed finish past a stranded Bounou. Six minutes on, Dembélé settled it, powering out of midfield onto a Mbappé lay-off and rolling a low shot into the corner. From there it was a question of the final whistle, not the result.

Morocco’s only clear look came late, and Mike Maignan handled it without drama.

The xG that exposed the scoreline

The final expected-goals count read France 3.05, Morocco 0.14. The saved penalty made the night look tighter than it was, but the underlying numbers show a mismatch.

Watch only the highlights and you’d think the spot-kick kept Morocco alive. It didn’t. A total of 0.14 xG across the full match is next to nothing. Morocco hardly troubled Maignan and never found a route in from set pieces or distance.

Personnel had a lot to do with it. Morocco had lost breakout striker Ismael Saibari to a hamstring injury against Canada in the round of 16, and Walid Regragui reshaped his side into a false nine with Brahim Díaz drifting up top. Facing William Saliba and Upamecano, two of the form centre-backs of this World Cup, a patched-up front line was always up against it.

France 2-0 Morocco — the key numbers
Final score	France 2, Morocco 0
Goalscorers	Mbappé 60′, Dembélé 66′
Expected goals (xG)	France 3.05, Morocco 0.14
First-half xG	France 1.87
Penalty	Mbappé missed, saved by Bounou
FRA’s run	Six wins from six, no extra time

[GRAPHIC: xG / shot-map embed — designer]

Bounou’s night: the reason it stayed at 2-0

Yassine Bounou is why the board said 2-0 and not four or five. Six saves, a penalty stop, and a scrambled effort onto his own crossbar all kept Morocco in the tie long after the football had drifted away from them.

The Moroccan keeper saved Mbappé’s penalty, denied Doué when he robbed the highly rated Ayyoub Bouaddi, and got fingertips to a fierce Lucas Digne strike in first-half stoppage time that cannoned off the bar. He faced a France side that finished with more than three expected goals and held them to two. Take Bounou out of the XI and the scoreline matches the xG.

Mbappé closes on Messi’s record

Mbappé’s opener was his 20th career World Cup goal, second only to Lionel Messi (21) on the all-time list. Both have now gone clear of Miroslav Klose’s old record of 16.

The scale of it is easy to miss. Kylian has those 20 goals in only 20 World Cup appearances, across three tournaments. Messi’s 21 span six. For the Golden Boot at this World Cup the pair sit level on eight goals, but Mbappé leads on the assist tiebreaker, three to one, so the Morocco goal put him back on top of the chart.

Ask Mbappé who the best player at this World Cup is and there’s no hesitation. On 22 June, with his own name in the mix alongside Messi, Harry Kane and Haaland, he said: “Lionel Messi. It’s clear.” The man he’s chasing is the man he rates first.

All-time men’s World Cup top scorers (after 9 July)	Goals
Lionel Messi (Argentina)	21
Kylian Mbappé (France)	20
Miroslav Klose (Germany)	16
Ronaldo (Brazil)	15
Gerd Müller (Germany)	14
Just Fontaine (France)	13

Will Mbappé be fit for the semi-final?

Mbappé limped out late with a knock to his right ankle and sat on the bench with an ice pack. The early read is a precaution, not a serious problem. He walked off unaided, waved to the crowd and joined the celebrations, which ESPN took as a sign he’s highly unlikely to miss the semi-final.

That’s the reporting, and it’s worth naming its limits. FRA haven’t set a firm timeline, nobody outside the camp has confirmed the severity, and a sore ankle four days out is not nothing. The mood at Foxborough was relaxed rather than worried. Until France say otherwise, “expected to be fine, monitoring it” is as far as anyone should push it.

Who France play next

FRA met the winner of Friday’s Spain vs Belgium quarter-final, in the semi-final on Tuesday in Arlington, Texas. They arrive as one of the tournament favourites and it’s not hard to see why.

They’re the only side to win all six matches so far without extra time, they’ve reached a fourth straight World Cup knockout stage, and the attacking group of Mbappé, Dembélé, Doué and Michael Olise is the deepest left in the draw. One note of caution before backing them short: Spain, if they come through, are the reigning European champions, and this France back line has barely been tested since the group stage. That 0.14 xG says more about Morocco’s night than about how France would cope against a side that keeps the ball.

There’s history here too. France beat Morocco by this same 2-0 scoreline in the 2022 semi-final in Qatar, on the way to the final. Repeat it on Tuesday and they’re one win from a third straight final.

If you’re having a bet on the last four, set your limit before kick-off and hold to it. The edge is in shopping the price and waiting on the Kylian team news, not in blindly backing a favourite. Keep it fun, keep it affordable, and if it stops being fun, step away. Help is at gamblingcare.ie.

FAQ

What was the final score in France vs Morocco? France won 2-0 in the World Cup quarter-final at Gillette Stadium on 9 July, with goals from Mbappé (60′) and Dembélé (66′).

Did Mbappé miss a penalty? Yes. Bounou saved his first-half spot-kick after a VAR review that held the penalty up by more than three minutes. Mbappé answered with the opener in the second half.

How many World Cup goals does Mbappé have now? Twenty across three tournaments — four in 2018, eight in 2022 and eight so far in 2026. That’s second all time, one behind Messi’s 21.

Why was Morocco’s xG so low? They managed just 0.14 expected goals to France’s 3.05. Without injured striker Saibari, Morocco played a false nine and rarely tested Maignan, while Bounou’s saves kept the score at 2-0.

Is Mbappé injured for the semi-final? He picked up an ankle knock and iced it on the bench, but joined the celebrations and is expected to be fit. France haven’t confirmed a timeline, so check closer to the game.

Who will FRA play in the semi-final? The winner of Spain vs Belgium, on Tuesday in Arlington, Texas.