Kylian Mbappe / Wikipedia

Leading by example, Kylian Mbappe overcame his first-half penalty miss to score in the second half and carry France to the semifinals of the FIFA World Cup 2026 on Thursday. It was his goal in the 60th minute that opened the way for France to eliminate Morocco, 2-0, in the first quarterfinal played before a packed Boston stadium.

With this defeat of Morocco, the challenge of Africa ended in the 2026 World Cup.

They say history repeats itself. It did as the race for the Golden Boot entered an exciting round. Kylian Mbappe has joined Lionel Messi at the top of the list of individual goal scorers by taking his tally to eight. Interestingly, like Lionel Messi, who muffed a penalty in the Round of 16 game against Egypt and later scored the second goal for his team to take the defending champions to the quarterfinals, Mbappe did the same.

After missing a penalty that he had earned after he was tripped in the Moroccan striking circle, Kylian Mbappe made amends as he scored a brilliant field goal in the 60th minute to put pre-tournament favorites France ahead. This was Mbappe's 20th goal in 20 World Cup matches, while Lionel Messi has 21 goals from his 31 World Cup matches.

Mbappe scored his eighth goal in five matches before setting up Ousmane Dembele (66th minute) for his fifth as the two-time champions booked a last-four meeting with either Belgium or Spain.

France signaled its intent early, with Dayot Upamecano heading a fifth-minute corner straight at Yassine Bounou. After dominating possession, Les Bleus were handed a golden opportunity to take the lead when Noussair Mazraoui brought down Mbappe in the penalty area. The France captain stepped up, but Bounou produced a fine save to send the sides level at the break.

The much-needed breakthrough came on the hour mark when Mbappe curled a superb finish into the far corner from the edge of the area. The France talisman turned provider moments later, slipping Dembele through to fire a composed finish into the bottom corner.

The French comfortably saw out the remainder to reach a third successive World Cup semifinal, following their triumph in 2018 and runner-up finish to Argentina at Qatar 2022.

Mbappe was withdrawn with 13 minutes remaining after raising his arm to the bench and lying down on the floor while Morocco had the ball in play. He did not appear in great distress but stretched out his right leg with assistance from one of France's medical team. Mbappe then waved to the crowd on his way off and gave high-fives to his teammates on the bench.

Subsequently, Mbappe was seen with ice resting on his right foot, but he joined his team's celebrations after the final whistle.

The win takes the 2022 finalists into the last four of this tournament, setting up a semifinal against the winner of July 10 clash between Spain and Belgium.

The only non-European team left in the contest is defending champion Argentina, who take on Belgium, while England and Norway figure in the other quarterfinal.

The French are so dangerous, particularly when ahead, because opponents have to open up to chase a result. This means France's turbo-charged forwards have the space to do even more damage.

Against Morocco, that is exactly what happened after Mbappe's opening goal, with Dembele springing the counterattack followed by a finish that secured his team's place in the next round.

Spain, England and Argentina certainly have the attacking thrust and individual ability to cause France more problems than any of the sides they have faced so far.

There is no doubt that France have the best starting XI at this World Cup and the deepest squad, but tournament football history teaches you it ultimately only takes a few minutes for a whole campaign to unravel.

"It's good, it was a tough match. Today, we missed a penalty and failed to convert some chances. With Kylian [Mbappe], there's no issue, he never doubts himself, even though he had a chance before he scored. We are exactly where we wanted to be. We will recover well and see who our opponent will be. I imagine there's a lot of excitement and passion in France. Here, we are in our own bubble, and I am even more so. That's what we're here for, and the players have a duty to do everything they can to go as far as possible. We've cleared a major hurdle," said Didier Deschamps, France head coach.

"We have to admit we faced a very good opponent. We struggled a lot in the first half, and Bounou's penalty save kept us in the game. We defended better in the second half and were calmer in possession. In the end, it was an individual piece of brilliance from Mbappe. It was a difficult feeling, but we have to keep working. We need more options on the bench when we have injuries, absences and fatigue, but of course we're disappointed.

"The future will be bright if we continue like this, but that doesn't mean we didn't want to win today. Of course we wanted to win today. We did everything we could to win, but we faced a very difficult opponent. It's a disappointment, of course, but we'll keep working for the future. 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," said Mohamed Ouahbi, Morocco coach.

"I took a knock to the ankle, but I'm fine. At that point, JP [Jean-Philippe Mateta] was in better shape than I was to play the final minutes. The secret to this France team? There's only one way to relax, and that's by winning. Until we've done that, we don't let up. We're in the semifinals and we're very happy, but there's still a long way to go. We realize that what lies ahead is even tougher than what we've been through, but we're ready to face anything," commented Kylian Mbappe, France captain, after the game.

"We're very happy. We were really focused on this match. This is my third World Cup semifinal with the French team. It's pure joy, pure pleasure. We're going to stay focused on what's coming next. Two or three minutes before my goal, Kylian [Mbappe] told me to stay central. He made a great run that opened up the path for me. I really wanted to get the shot on target and see it go in. I'm happy," is how Ousmane Dembele, France forward, reacted in the post-match media interaction.

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