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New Delhi. France defeated Morocco 2-0 on Thursday to reach the quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup 2026. Kylian Mbappe scored a goal and also gave an assist despite missing a penalty kick in the first half. Ousmane Dembele scored the team’s second goal.

With this win, France will now face Spain or Belgium in the semi-finals in Dallas. This match will be played on Tuesday. Mbappe scored a goal in the 60th minute of the match. This is the 20th goal of his World Cup career, leaving him just one goal behind Argentina captain Lionel Messi. After this, in the 66th minute, Dembele scored his fifth goal of this tournament.

It is noteworthy that in the 2022 Qatar World Cup also, France had defeated Morocco by the same score in the semi-finals, when Morocco became the first African team to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup. Now France is moving towards becoming the third team to play the World Cup final for the third consecutive time. France’s dominance was clearly visible throughout the match.

France took a total of 21 shots on goal while Morocco could take only 4 shots. France also remained ahead 8-1 in terms of shots on target. The team’s second goal came when Mbappe passed the ball towards Dembele and while running forward himself pulled the defenders towards him, giving Dembele space to score.

At the beginning of the match, in the fourth minute itself, Mbappe’s first shot went past the goal post. Then in the 25th minute, when Mbappe was running from the left side inside the box, Moroccan defender Nussair Mazraoui brought him down. Referee Facundo Tello immediately gave a penalty. After a long video review, Mbappe was allowed to take the shot in the 28th minute, but goalkeeper Yassin Bono guessed the right direction and stopped his shot.

Earlier, Mbappe had also taken a penalty against Paraguay in the pre-quarterfinals. France’s dominance in the first half was clearly visible with a shot margin of 13-1. Morocco’s best chance came just before half-time when Ashraf Hakimi’s free kick went wide of the goal post.