France secured a place in the semi-finals of the 2026 FIFA World Cup with a 2-0 victory over Morocco on Thursday, as second-half goals from Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé ended the African champions’ campaign.
The 2018 world champions dominated much of the quarter-final and created a series of chances before finally breaking Morocco’s resistance after the interval.
France will face either Spain or Belgium in the semi-finals in Arlington, Texas, on Tuesday.
Didier Deschamps’ side controlled possession from the outset but were repeatedly frustrated by Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, who produced a string of saves to keep the scores level.
France were handed a chance to take the lead in the 28th minute after Mbappé was brought down by Noussair Mazraoui, but the forward’s penalty was saved by Bounou following a lengthy VAR review before the spot-kick was taken.
Morocco held firm until the break but eventually conceded on the hour mark when Mbappé curled a right-footed effort into the corner from the edge of the penalty area.
Dembélé doubled France’s advantage six minutes later, driving forward from midfield before calmly placing a low finish beyond Bounou to seal victory.
Morocco rarely threatened in attack and did not register a shot on target until the 83rd minute, when France goalkeeper Mike Maignan pushed away a free-kick from Azzedine Ounahi.
France will now meet the winners of Friday’s quarter-final between European champions Spain and Belgium in Los Angeles.
Spain have yet to concede a goal in the tournament and reached the last eight after eliminating Portugal, while Belgium booked their quarter-final place with a 4-1 victory over the United States.
Elsewhere, Argentina will face Switzerland in Saturday’s quarter-final in Kansas City after coming from two goals down to beat Egypt 3-2 in the previous round.
The dramatic victory sparked criticism from Egypt coach Hossam Hassan, who alleged that a series of refereeing decisions had favoured the defending champions because of “external” pressure.
FIFA’s head of refereeing, Pierluigi Collina, rejected the allegations on Thursday.
“Nobody can question the integrity of the FIFA World Cup match officials,” Collina said.
“Nobody can claim that FIFA refereeing can be influenced by anyone.”
The winners of the Argentina-Switzerland tie will play either Norway or England, who meet in Saturday’s other quarter-final in Miami.
Norway striker Erling Haaland said England would carry the greater burden of expectation ahead of the match.
“I think there’s some clear favourites out there, England’s one of them,” Haaland said.
“I think all of you should put every single pressure on the English lads.”
