Five Things We Learned from France 2-0 Morocco

Five Things We Learned from France 2-0 Morocco

France earn a spot in yet another World Cup semi final in a week's time as they eased past a poor Morocco side who didn't really turn up to the races.

After a Kylian Mbappe penalty miss in the first, he was the man to put them in front an hour with a superb curling effort, before Ousmane Dembele added to Morocco's concerns and they will await the winner of Spain or Belgium on Friday.

1. Another Goalkeeper Delivers as Mbappe Disappoints

Yassine Bounou was at peak levels during the game today, seriously having to keep his nation in the game on many ocassions.

From making his first save to deny Dayot Upamecano inside just four minutes, before being required to deny the mighty Kylian Mbappe from 12 yards as he continued his outrageous record at saving penalties.

He was then later needed to get down quickly to his left in order to tip a very dangerous effort from Desire Doue.

Mbappe came into the fixture on seven goals, just one behind Lionel Messi, but that penalty was shocking. After an interesting and seemingly pointless three minutes delay before it was taken, Mbappe's penalty technique was poor and the shot itself even worse as Bounou got down to his left well.

Safe hands 🙌

Morocco keeper Yassine Bounou has saved four out of nine penalties he has faced at the World Cup, including shootouts 🇲🇦 pic.twitter.com/DgZxmx0Uey

— ITV Football (@itvfootball) July 9, 2026

2. France Seek That Third Star

It wasn't a particularly pretty performance by this French side by any means, but they still got the job done comfortably which should worry all fans as to what to expect when they show up in full force.

We have seen how consistent this French side have been over the last decade or so since reaching the Euro 2016 final - missing out only on Euros finals since.

Mbappe is on fire, Michael Olise is coming off the best season of his career and Dembele has been in great shape all tournament long - it is only a matter of a time you feel until they book their ticket to New Jersey on the 19th July.

Ousmane Dembélé extends France's lead 😮‍💨

That's two goals in six minutes 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/QG7vxrOHgz

— ITV Football (@itvfootball) July 9, 2026

3. Penalties are Harder Than They Look

Watching from home, penalties look like the dream position every striker wants to find themselves in - and most they would be correct.

However, there is something different about this World Cup so far, and we have seen so many penalties be missed than we are used to.

As a basis, there is practically a 75% chance of a penalty being scored, but in this tournament, that actual success rate drops to around a third. Just 39 out of 60 for the record.

This could be down to many things, such as the pressure and weight of your entire nation on your back - or the fact that VAR fancies checking over what was a clear blatant foul a million times over.

3 minutes it took for Mbappe to actually be able to take his penalty - not saying this is the only reason it was missed or why the success rate has been so low, but factors such as this certainly don't help.

Bounou DENIES Mbappe ❌

France fail to capitalise on taking the lead from the spot 👀 pic.twitter.com/1mzWj2vkJZ

— ITV Football (@itvfootball) July 9, 2026

4. Not a Roaring End to a Fantastic Run

Morocco have again made it farther than any other African nation, making it almost an expectation now that an African side must make the top eight.

They backed up their underdog run to the last four in Qatar with another fabulous campaign over the Atlantic.

Coming out unbeaten and firing from a group which was deceivingly tricky on paper - consisting of the likes of Brazil, Scotland and Haiti.

One of the games of the tournament against the Netherlands where many would have had them bowing out, to then beating co-hosts Canada and only getting outplayed in the last eight by none other than France.

Not a bad way to go on paper, but the performance itself wasn't quite good enough today, and it wasn't the best way to bow out.

5. No Saibari No Party

At the end of the day, their exit was clearly down to manager Mohamed Ouahbi not giving Ismael Saibari a run out.

The new Bayern Munich signing had an excellent group stage, but was unable to grace the Moroccan with an appearance off the bench today following his injury against Canada.

It is therefore no wonder why Morocco couldn't carve a goal out of France today, and is why this was their last World Cup game before welcoming the world to North Africa in four years time.

Ismael Saibari in the last three weeks. 🤯🇲🇦

🔴⚪️ Agrees €55m move to FC Bayern.
⚽️🇧🇷 Goal vs Brazil on World Cup debut.
⚽️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Goal vs Scotland.
⚽️🇭🇹 Goal vs Haiti.
💥🇳🇱 Winning penalty vs Netherlands. pic.twitter.com/Hivgbl5Fc9

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) June 30, 2026