France on Friday reached their third consecutive Fifa World Cup semi-final courtesy of a comfortable 2-0 win over Morocco at the Boston Stadium in their quarter-final tie.
Kylian Mbappe scored his 8th goal of the tournament to level Messi on the golden boot race and Ousmane Dembele added another to his tally as Mbappe’s first half penalty miss proved to be inconsequential.
In a match that was thoroughly dominated by the 2018 champions, Morocco never looked like a serious threat. French goalkeeper Mike Maignan only had to make a single save in the whole match as the front-line of Mbappe, Dembele and Michael Olise proved too hot to handle for the African nation.
Morocco, who is ranked 7th in the world, were drab going forward. The French defense of Dayot Upamecano and William Saliba had a comfortable match. The African champions missed the services of Ismael Saibari going forward as the Bayern Munich player was ruled out of the crucial tie with a hamstring injury.
France were awarded a penalty in the 28th minute, taken by Mbappe, but Bounou remained composed, correctly guessed the direction, and saved the forward’s low shot. This marked Mbappe’s first penalty miss for the national team since Euro 2020.
The title contenders also struck the crossbar during first-half stoppage time with a powerful 30-meter shot from Lucas Digne, while the defensively oriented Morocco struggled to penetrate their opponents’ area, failing to register any shots on or off target throughout the first half, with Brahim Diaz serving as the sole striker.
Mbappe redeemed himself for the earlier miss in the 60th minute with a quick glance and an excellent finish, and before Morocco could regroup, the two-time world champions scored again through Dembele.
The Ballon d’Or winner capitalized on the space created by Mbappe’s run to fire in the second goal, marking his fifth of the tournament.
France will face the winners of Spain vs Belgium in the semi-final. With the form they are in, opponents are the last thing Didier Deschamps’ men will be worried about. If anything, it is their opponents that will have sleepless nights thinking about how to stop this unstoppable attacking trio.