FOXBOROUGH.- Determined that the 2026 World Cup bear his name, Kylian Mbappé guided the classification of France to the semifinal by opening the account in the 2-0 victory against Morocco this Thursday in Foxboroughnearly Boston.
After wasting a penalty, saved by Yassine Bounou (28′), the French captain scored a high-quality goal in the 60th minute that unlocked a tangled match for the great favorites for the title in North America.
Mbappé, 27, tied Lionel Messi as the competition’s gunner with eight goals. He is one below the Argentine star (21 goals) in the historical artillery table.
Ousmane Dembele He extended the score six minutes later with a shot from outside the area that buried the Atlas Lions, a team that in recent years has gained the role of leading actor on the soccer planet.
In search of its third star, France will play the semifinal on Tuesday in dallas against Spain either Belgiumwhich collide on Friday in Los Angeles.
Monsieur penalty saver
Mbappé dodged a very powerful enemy on the pitch Gillette Stadiumwhich had illustrious guests in the boxes such as the former French international Antoine Griezmann and the singer Shakira.
He was the custodian of the goal of the last Africans in contention, a man who forged his legend as a great goalkeeper in the Qatar World Cup.
The exporter of Seville had two vital saves in the first five minutes of the game, played under a hot sun in the vicinity of the capital of Massachusetts.
First he flew to his lower right corner to send a shot by Mbappé from outside the area to the corner and immediately afterwards, in the corner kick that arose from that save, he deflected a header from Dayot Upamecano.
Its peak, however, would come almost half an hour into the game. In a counterattack, after a lost ball by Achraf Hakimi, Noussair Mazraoui He knocked down the French captain within 18 hours.
After several seconds waiting for the authorization of the Argentine judge Facundo Tellothe star of real Madrid He took the soft penalty, low, to his right, and Bono went there to extend his myth as a penalty saver.
The tall Moroccan goalkeeper, 1.92 meters tall, has emerged victorious from seven of the nine penalties he has faced in the World Cups, including shoot-outs.
Kylian’s revenge
His stretch drowned out a goal call that seemed imminent for the Blues, who controlled the ball for a good part of the match, but once again suffered a dull afternoon of Michael Olise and Dembélé.
Bono then calmed attempts to Désiré Doue (35′, 55′), Lucas Digne (45+1′), with a shot that grazed the goalkeeper’s hand and hit the crossbar, Bradley Barcola (85′) and Jean-Philippe Mateta (90+4′).
Morocco’s attack, decimated by the injury of the scorer Ismael Saibaricould not correspond to the performance of his 1, since it was only until the end of the first half that he knocked on the doors of Mike Maignan with a deflected shot from Hakimi.
Until game time the team Mohamed Ouahbi He did not have a reference in the center of the attack and was easy prey for the superb Upamecano, probably the best center back in North America 2026.
The lack of punch was lethal for the Lions, who were seeking revenge in Foxborough after losing 2-0 to the French in the semi-final in Qatar, in the best performance by an African team in football’s biggest event.
Thirsty for revenge for missing his first penalty in a World CupMbappé made up for the mistake from the white spot and finally beat Bono with a beautiful shot from the edge of the area.
Any hope of Moroccan resurrection was buried very soon.
Dembélé woke up from his lethargy and with a low shot from the crescent scored his fifth goal in the tournament and secured his country’s third consecutive qualification to a World Cup semi-final.
