Penalty miss sparks Mbappé response with goal and assist as France advances to World Cup semifinals
In Thursday's World Cup quarterfinal, France defeated Morocco 2-0 to secure a place in the semifinals. Despite missing a penalty in the first half, Kylian Mbappé redeemed himself with a goal and an assist in the second half, while Ousmane Dembélé also scored. Les Bleus will face the winner of the Spain-Belgium match next Tuesday in Dallas.
In the 60th minute, Mbappé broke the deadlock, scoring his 20th World Cup goal, just one fewer than Argentine star Lionel Messi. Six minutes later, Dembélé scored his fifth goal of the tournament. Notably, France also beat Morocco by the same score in the semifinals of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where Morocco became the first African team to reach the semifinals. France is now aiming to reach the World Cup final for the third consecutive edition, having made the final in the last two tournaments.
Match statistics showed France dominating with 21 shots to 4, and 8 shots on target to 1. The second goal was particularly well-worked: Mbappé received the ball, passed back to Dembélé, then made a run forward to draw defenders, creating a clear shooting chance for Dembélé.
Just four minutes into the match, Mbappé had his first shot on target, but the ball went wide of the right post. In the 25th minute, he was brought down by Morocco defender Noussair Mazraoui in the box during a left-wing dribble, and the referee decisively awarded a penalty. Due to a lengthy video review, Mbappé waited several minutes before taking the spot kick. In the 28th minute, after a slight hesitation, he opted to shoot to the right, but it was saved cleanly by Moroccan goalkeeper Yassine Bounou. The only penalty goal in this World Cup was scored by Mbappé in the round of 16 against Paraguay.
In the first half, France were clearly more dominant, with 13 shots to 1. Morocco's best chance came just before halftime, when Achraf Hakimi took a free kick from outside the box, and the ball whistled past the right post. On the all-time World Cup scoring list, Mbappé has 20 goals in 20 matches, just one behind Messi; Messi has 21 goals in 31 appearances across six tournaments, surpassing German legend Miroslav Klose's record of 16 goals.