France 2-0 Morocco - 2026 World Cup Match Report and Player Ratings

Les MiseraBLEUS Batter Sorry Morocco to Punch Semi Final Ticket

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.

Ousmane Dembele doubles France's lead against Morocco and may just have sealed his country's place in the World Cup semi-final.

Michael Olise feeds it to Kylian Mbappe, who flicks it on to Dembele before taking the attention of Morocco's defence with his speed and movement.… pic.twitter.com/JtsgkVkrhc

— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) July 9, 2026

France 2-0 Morocco: As it Happened

The Boston Stadium in Massachusetts was the venue for a thrilling World Cup rematch for the first quarterfinal, following a 2-0 victory for Les Bleus back in Qatar for what was then Morocco and Africa's first-ever semi final in World Cup history - if they were to repeat this feat, they would require their biggest scalp yet.

The game began brightly for both sides, making sure we knew from early that this wasn't going to be your dry 1-0. Kylian Mbappe didn't take long to sting the hands of Yassine Bounou either, as his effort from outside the box forced the 35-year-old to parry it out for a corner. France's brighter start continued from the resulting set-piece too, as Bounou was again required to stand in the way of another strong chance - this time a header from Dayot Upamecano, but he failed to really work the Al Hilal man from close range.

Crosses were certainly the way to go for France early on, with Didier Deschamps' side earning some of their best chances from that range as they continued their early pressure to really put Morocco on the back foot as the hydration break approached.

Just prior to the break, France were finally rewarded. Mbappe worked really well to get past Noussair Mazraoui in the penalty area, but the Manchester United man got on scene too late to take out the forward. Almost 200 seconds after the penalty was awarded, Mbappe finally took his spot-kick; however, his approach was poor and the execution was even worse - Bounou made a strong save low to his right to ensure they were still very much in this tie.

Bounou DENIES Mbappe ❌

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

— ITV Football (@itvfootball) July 9, 2026

Nonetheless it was still France who remained favourites heading into the break as their excellent press earned more chances - Bounou was again forced into another top save to deny Desire Doue, with Lucas Digne also striking one into the crossbar. For Morocco, the half went about as expected as they hoped to simply survive the opening period - only issue? They only had one shot - with the last kick of the half and god was it awful.

Half-Time Score: France 0-0 Morocco

Morocco came the blocks a little quicker in the second half than they did the first while France continued their quest for an opener. First it was Doue who like the first attempted to try his luck from distance, but the shot went straight into the arms of Bounou. Moments later, it was Michael Olise creating a golden chance for their star man, but despite his magic, Mbappe couldn't find the final touch to keep his effort under the bar.

Eventually, their relentless pressure sought its rewards. Mbappe received the ball and quickly got just inside the box before releasing a magnificent curling effort, round Issa Diop and mere inches inside the far post's side netting as he punched the French one step into the semi final.

Shortly after scoring the first, France continued pressing and pushing for another goal and Morocco found themselves from being very much in the game to very much out of it within a matter of minutes. Ousmane Dembele was the man who doubled their lead, but it was Mbappe who made a dangerous run to force Moroccan defenders out of position to free up the back-to-back UEFA Champions League winner with plenty of space of which he delightfully accepted.

With the hydration soon coming and going, Morocco began making changes as they desperately sought a way back into this clash, and they needed it quickly - especially with them well into their second 90-minute game against the European side for consecutive World Cups and still yet to worry the scoreboard operator.

France entered time-wasting mode in the last 15 minutes, eager to avoid anything near what Egypt has to go through just over 48 hours before, taking any time off the clock whenever they could. Morocco finally tested Mike Maignan 83 minutes into proceedings through Azzedine Ounahi, but the Atlas Lions were still searching for that lifeline; Neil El Aynaoui soon headed into the side netting from a corner as the French edged closer to a third consecutive World Cup semi final.

The game's dominators continued playing their own game, searching for more and they almost earned plenty more opportunities after the introduction of Jean-Philippe Mateta. The Crystal Palace forward's introduction allowed them to implement another avenue when creating chances, and Mateta quickly had two chances to head his side home and dry - neither could he find the target from.

Six minutes were added on to extend Morocco's chances of finding a way back - or to prolong their suffering depeding on how you look at it.

Nevertheless, five minutes later and we were all waiting for the game to end to be honest - France saw it out and unlike their entire tournament, Morocco bow out miserably.

Full-Time Score: France 2-0 Morocco

France Player Ratings

• Mike Maignan - 6
• Lucas Digne - 7
• William Saliba - 7
• Dayot Upamecano - 7
• Jules Kounde - 7
• Adrien Rabiot - 8
• Kouadio Kone - 7
• Desire Doue - 8
• Michael Olise - 7
• Ousmane Dembele - 8
• Kylian Mbappe - 8

Substitutes:

• Warren Zaire-Emery (71') - 6
• Bradley Barcola (77') - 6
• Jean-Philippe Mateta (77') - 6
• Malo Gusto (87') - 6

Morocco Player Ratings

• Yassine Bounou - 7
• Anass Salah-Eddine - 6
• Noussair Mazraoui - 5
• Issa Diop - 5
• Achraf Hakimi - 6
• Ayyoub Bouaddi - 6
• Neil El Aynaoui - 6
• Bilal El Khannouss - 6
• Azzedine Ounahi - 7
• Chemsdine Talbi - 6
• Brahim Diaz - 7

Substitutes:

• Sofyan Amrabat (62') - 6
• Soufiane Rahimi (62') - 6
• Zakaria El Ouahdi (74') - 6
• Gessime Yassine (74') - 6
• Amine Sbai (85') - 6

Player of the Match - Kylian Mbappe

Yes it's boring and we know he missed a penalty - but who else really deserved it?

Another bonkers goal to add to his ridiculous collection thus far, and a tidy assist to go with it; it was another majorly beneficial evening for the zero-time Ballon d'Or winner.

France book their ticket to the semi final comfortably in the end but you can ignore what I said at the start of the piece - it really wasn't all that exciting.