Mbappe, Dembele lead France into World Cup semi-finals
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Kylian Mbappe missed a first-half penalty before atoning with a brilliant goal as France marched into the World Cup semi-finals with a 2-0 win over Morocco.
Mbappe’s opening goal for France in the 60th minute kept him in the race for the Golden Boot with Argentina captain Lionel Messi.
It was Mbappe’s eighth goal of the tournament, equal with Messi for the tournament lead and one ahead of Norway forward Erling Haaland.
Norway play England in the quarter-finals on Saturday, and Messi will lead Argentina against Switzerland later that night.
Mbappé had a chance from the spot after drawing a foul from Morocco defender Noussair Mazraoui in the box in the 28th minute, but Yassine Bounou guessed correctly by diving to his left to stop the attempt.
The Real Madrid forward delivered for the two-time World Cup champions when he dribbled into the area and let loose a rocket that went just inside the post.
Ousmane Dembélé doubled the lead six minutes later on a counterattack as Morocco tried to send numbers forward.
This time it was Mbappe making a run into the left side of the penalty area to clear space. Dembele then unleashed his own right-footed shot from about 20 yards out, and while Bounou got a hand to it, he could not keep it from nestling in the bottom right corner.
It’s a third successive World Cup semi-final for France, who are bidding to win their third title.
Les Bleus will next play on Tuesday in Arlington, Texas, against the winner of Friday’s other quarter-final between Spain and Belgium.
“We are exactly where we wanted to be. We will recover well and see who our opponent will be,” France coach Didier Deschamps said.
“I imagine there’s a lot of excitement and passion in France. That’s what we’re here for, and the players have a duty to do everything they can to go as far as possible.”
Mbappé was taken off in the 77th minute, turning and waving with both hands to the Gillette Stadium crowd as he walked off the field and had his ankle iced afterwards.
“I have a minor ankle injury, but I’m completely fine,” said Mbappe.
“(Jean-Philippe) Mateta was in a better position to play the remaining minutes of the match and was fitter at that moment. That’s all that happened.”
The French captain also moved one behind Messi on the all-time World Cup scoring list, with 20 goals in 20 matches.
Messi has 21 goals in 31 career World Cup matches over six tournaments, breaking the record of 16 that had been held by Germany striker Miroslav Klose.
Morocco were shut out for the first time this tournament and eliminated by France for a second consecutive World Cup, having also lost 2-0 in the 2022 semi-finals.
They’re the last African team to exit after nine of 10 qualifiers reached the knockout phase, but only two advanced past the round of 32.
“The future will be bright if we continue like this, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t want to win. Of course we wanted to win today,” Morocco coach Mohamed Ouahbi said.
“We know we represent more than just one country. We represent the Moroccan people, and many countries across Asia and Africa. Many people see themselves in this team, and we’ll keep working to win titles in the future.”
The Atlas Lions were second- best for most of the afternoon, only forcing France goalkeeper Mike Maignan into a save from Azzedine Ounahi’s effort from distance in the 83rd minute.
LEADING GOALSCORERS:
EIGHT: Lionel Messi (Argentina), Kylian Mbappe (France)
SIX: Harry Kane (England)
FIVE: Erling Haaland (Norway), Ousmane Dembélé (France)
FOUR: Vinícius Júnior (Brazil), Mikel Oyarzabal (Spain), Ismaïla Sarr (Senegal), Julián Quiñones (Mexico), Jude Bellingham (England)
ALL-TIME LEADING WORLD CUP SCORERS:
21 – Lionel Messi (Argentina)
20 – Kylian Mbappe (France)
16 – Miroslav Klose (Germany)
15 – Ronaldo (Brazil)
14 – Gerd Müller (West Germany), Harry Kane (England)
13 – Just Fontaine (France)
12 – Pele (Brazil)
11 – Sándor Kocsis (Hungary), Jürgen Klinsmann (West Germany), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)
AP