Mbappé and Dembélé strike as Les Bleus advance to the last four, while FIFA rejects claims of refereeing bias
France secured a place in the 2026 FIFA World Cup semi-finals after Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé scored second-half goals to earn a convincing 2-0 victory over Morocco in Thursday’s quarter-final at Boston.
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The result sends Didier Deschamps’ side into the France World Cup semi-finals, where the 2018 champions will face either Spain or Belgium in Arlington, Texas, on Tuesday as they continue their pursuit of a third consecutive appearance in the tournament’s final.
France controlled much of the contest from the opening whistle, creating several opportunities but finding Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou in inspired form during the first half.
The African champions, who had entered the match with hopes of causing another upset, struggled to threaten France’s defence and did not register a shot on target until the closing stages when Mike Maignan pushed away an 83rd-minute free-kick from Azzedine Ounahi.
France had the opportunity to break the deadlock in the 28th minute after Noussair Mazraoui brought down Mbappé inside the penalty area.
Following a lengthy Video Assistant Referee review, the France captain stepped up to take the spot-kick, but Bounou produced an excellent save to keep Morocco level.
Despite the missed penalty, France maintained relentless pressure throughout the second half and finally found the breakthrough on the hour mark.
Mbappé curled a superb right-footed effort beyond Bounou from the edge of the penalty area to give Les Bleus a deserved lead.
Just six minutes later, Paris Saint-Germain forward Dembélé doubled France’s advantage after surging through midfield before calmly guiding a low finish into the bottom corner to seal the victory.
Morocco, crowned African champions before the tournament, had been tipped to provide one of France’s sternest tests on the road to the final.
However, Walid Regragui’s side struggled to create meaningful chances against a disciplined French defence and exited the competition after an otherwise commendable campaign.
The victory extends France’s impressive record under Deschamps at major tournaments and keeps alive hopes of lifting a third FIFA World Cup title after previous triumphs in 1998 and 2018.
Attention now turns to Friday’s remaining quarter-final between reigning European champions Spain and Belgium in Los Angeles.
Spain have yet to concede a goal in the tournament after eliminating Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal in the round of 16, while Belgium advanced with an emphatic 4-1 victory over co-hosts the United States.
Elsewhere, defending champions Argentina continue their title defence against Switzerland in Kansas City on Saturday after recovering from a two-goal deficit to beat Egypt 3-2 in a dramatic last-16 encounter.
That victory generated debate over several refereeing decisions that went Argentina’s way, prompting Egypt coach Hossam Hassan to allege that match officials had favoured the South Americans because of “external” pressure.
FIFA Head of Refereeing Pierluigi Collina firmly rejected the accusation on Thursday.
“Nobody can question the integrity of the FIFA World Cup match officials,” Collina said.
“Nobody can claim that FIFA Refereeing can be influenced by anyone.”
The winner of the Argentina and Switzerland tie will meet either Norway or England in the semi-finals after the two European sides clash in Miami on Saturday.
Ahead of that contest, Norway striker Erling Haaland attempted to shift expectations onto England despite his outstanding form throughout the tournament.
“I think there’s some clear favourites out there, England’s one of them,” Haaland told reporters.
“I think all of you should put every single pressure on the English lads.”
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With France already through and the remaining quarter-finals still to be played, the race for the 2026 FIFA World Cup title is entering its decisive stage, with several of football’s traditional powers still in contention.
Victory Emmanuel is a journalist and contributor to Freelanews.com, covering news, business, and public affairs.
