France are through to the semi-finals of the World Cup after a comfortable victory over Morocco in Boston, with two goals in a six-minute second-half spell settling the contest. Kylian Mbappe broke the deadlock before Ballon d’Or holder Ousmane Dembele added a second to send Didier Deschamps’ side into the last four.
The win moved France to 16 goals scored in the tournament — more than any other team at the time — with Mbappe’s strike his eighth of the competition. That tally puts him level with Argentina’s Lionel Messi at the top of the scoring charts, though Mbappe currently leads the Golden Boot race by virtue of having more assists than the Argentine. It was also a notable afternoon for Dembele, who now has five goals in the tournament, making France only the second side in the past 50 years to have two players score five or more goals at the same World Cup — after Brazil in 2002, when Ronaldo scored eight and Rivaldo five.
Mbappe’s goal arrived despite him having a first-half penalty saved, while former Scotland striker Pat Nevin was full of praise for the French attack on BBC Radio 5 Live. “France are the best, most skilful, most dangerous attacking team in the tournament,” Nevin said. “They have more than one threat. They have two, three, four that are capable.” Former France midfielder Patrick Vieira, who played in the 3-0 World Cup final win over Brazil in 1998, echoed those sentiments on ITV Sport, describing the current squad as potentially “one of the best” generations of attacking players the country has produced.
The victory continues a remarkable era under Deschamps, who has managed France since 2012 and has confirmed this will be his final tournament in charge. During his tenure, France won the 2018 World Cup, lost to Argentina in the 2022 final, were beaten by Portugal in the final of Euro 2016 and fell 2-1 to Spain in the semi-finals of Euro 2024. Should he guide Les Bleus to the trophy on 19 July, the debate over whether this is the greatest France team ever would be settled decisively — at least according to Vieira, who believes they are “on the verge of greatness.”
France began the tournament ranked third in the world, behind Argentina and European champions Spain. If Spain beat Belgium in their quarter-final, they will face France in the semi-finals in Dallas on Tuesday at 20:00 BST. Spain have reached the last eight without conceding a goal, though they did begin their campaign with a goalless draw against Cape Verde.
Image credit: BBC Sport / BBC Sport
