World Cup quarter-final: France 2 (Mbappé 60, Dembélé 66) Morocco 0
To Fifa’s undoubted delight, the 2026 World Cup seems to be unfolding according to the rules of entertainment rather than the ordinary rules of sport. We are converging on the semi-final line-up the organisers always wanted: a final-four shoot-out between the biggest stars: Kylian Mbappé, Lamine Yamal, Lionel Messi, Harry Kane (unless Erling Haaland has something to say about that).
As in a scripted drama, it looks like all the main characters will be involved at the climax. Nobody important to the main plot has randomly fallen down a manhole mid-series – the sort of thing that seldom happens in prestige TV but which often used to happen at the World Cup.
Some of the refereeing – compounded by Fifa’s role in the Folarin Balogun affair – has led to complaints that certain teams seem to enjoy plot armour.
But even the most cynical cannot deny that in the crunch moments, these stars keep justifying their star billing. Fifa are not yet in the business of special effects. You cannot fake the magic these players have been producing.
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An hour into a draining contest, under the burning sun at Boston Stadium, Mbappé produced a moment of genius to win this game for France – a shot of needle-like accuracy that punctured the challenge of Morocco. It sent the French to their third semi-final out of the three World Cups Mbappé has played.
The match finished 2-0, but let nobody kid you by saying this was easy for France. Morocco gave the tournament favourites their hardest game so far.
The question from the outset was: what kind of a team would France be up against? Under head coach Mohamed Ouahbi, Morocco are shape-shifters.
Against the Netherlands they had played aggressively in possession, keeping the ball on the ground. Only one pass in every 20 was a long ball, and, remarkably, they had nearly twice as many passes in the game as their opponents.
In the next round, against Canada, Morocco had evidently calculated that the only way their hosts could ever score against them was by winning the ball high against their build-up. So they played long, neutralising the press. One in every nine Moroccan passes that day was a long ball.
Their tactics infuriated Canada head coach Jesse Marsch, who complained bitterly afterwards about Morocco’s refusal to play into his side’s hands. “I’d rather be us than them,” he fumed. Instead of making a show of himself in front of the world, Marsch might try taking the opportunity to learn something about tactical flexibility.
It was clear from an early point against France that Morocco were happy to play on the break – but very carefully. When they raided forward, it was never in numbers.
France had all of the ball and were playing in Morocco’s half, the risks of which were illustrated when a mistake by William Saliba gifted Brahim Diaz possession on halfway. Diaz ran at the retreating France centre-back until he was crudely bundled over from behind by Manu Koné. The blatant foul was ignored by the Argentinian referee.
Appointing an all-Argentinian refereeing and VAR team for this match seemed a strange decision by Fifa, considering the increasingly bitter World Cup rivalry between France and Argentina. Large sections of Argentinian media and social media had insisted the French referee for the Argentina-Egypt game was going to cheat them. He ended up treating them very kindly. Was Facundo Tello going to return the favour?
In the 30th minute, Morocco had at last mustered the bravado to move forward as a team, when Achraf Hakimi miscontrolled and Désiré Doué nicked the ball away. Morocco’s captain appealed in vain for a foul as Michael Olise fed Mbappé. The French captain surged into the area, only for Noussair Mazraoui to slide across and bring him down. Tello, the gracious Argentinian, pointed immediately to the spot.
You could see now why Morocco had been so reluctant to give France the opportunity to counter-attack. But the story of the penalty still had some time to run. Replays showed that while Mazraoui had made contact with Mbappé, the Frenchman also crumpled into the contact a little too eagerly. The action recalled Harry Kane’s non-penalty against DR Congo, when the officials decided the forward was already going down when he was taken out.
These are the moments refereeing conspiracy theorists live for. VAR had cancelled an apparent penalty Mbappé had won against Senegal way back in France’s first game: was it going to happen again? Who then could deny that dark anti-French forces were operating behind the scenes at the highest level?
Mbappé stood waiting for a long time, the ball already placed on the spot, while above him the giant screen continued to announce the penalty check was still ongoing.
The crowd waited patiently at first, then got bored and started to whistle. The ref shooed players away from the penalty area and kept telling Mbappé to wait. The captain eventually went back over to the ball and starting fixing its placement on the spot, just to have something to do.
Three full minutes after the initial penalty award, the referee indicated the penalty was going to stand and Mbappé could begin the process of taking it for real. After all that, he produced one of the worst penalties seen so far in a World Cup of terrible penalties, sidefooting a low weak effort that Yassine Bono gathered gratefully. It was the fourth penalty save of his World Cup career; no goalkeeper has saved more.
But had the long delay put Mbappé off somehow? Had we just seen some mind games from our crafty, dulce-de-leche loving friends in the VAR booth?
Mbappé certainly looked pretty unhappy as he complained to the referee. Ultimately, the responsibility for missing the chance was his. Missing a first-half penalty consigned Brazil to defeat against Norway. Could this astonishingly talented French attack end up going the same way?
Morocco were obviously going to be a tough nut to crack, even for a side as talented as France. Mbappé shanked an easy chance teed up for him by Olise; he was offside, but the wild manner of the miss was worrying.
At least, it would have been for most players. One of the things that sets people like Mbappé apart is their ability to ignore setbacks and instantly refocus. On 60 minutes, Mbappé spun on the edge of the area. Issa Diop was facing him, but Mbappé used the big defender as a screen, clipping it around him and inside the far post. It was a finish of absolute perfection.
France were now playing without the heavy weight of dread, but six minutes later it was two, Ousmane Dembélé running on to Mbappé’s lay-off in midfield, advancing and curling a shot towards the bottom corner from 20 yards that Bono reached but could not stop.
France march on to the semis, Morocco return home with honour.
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