France vs. Morocco live updates, score: World Cup quarterfinals kick off Thursday

Morocco gets a corner kick, and takes it short and quick, but there isn’t anyone to receive the cross into the box. That’s another wasted set piece early on for the Atlas Lions.

Two more shots for France, with another from Dembélé getting stopped, and Adrien Rabiot going for the header off another French corner.

France has been the stronger-looking team so far on every part of the field, with Les Bleus dominating possession and holding six total shots. The Atlas Lions haven’t event taken a touch in the French box in these first 20-ish minutes.

Ousmane Dembélé finds France’s fourth shot of the game with his head, but it goes wide left.

Morocco has yet to take a shot, with Hakimi’s shanked free kick their best chance up to this point.

A Morocco free kick gives the Atlas Lions a great set piece chance, bringing everyone up to try and receive the kick from Achraf Hakimi. Unfortunately, Hakimi’s kick sails over the top of everyone and out of bound.

Brahim Díaz pulls away for a breakaway chance down the field, but is flanked by multiple French players before Manu Koné dispossesses him.

The Moroccan fans wanted a foul there, but the referee has them play on. Replay appears to show that it was a clean tackle: Koné got to the ball before he got to Díaz’s boots.

There appears to be a red balloon lazily drifting across the field. Both teams are currently choosing to ignore it as it floats out of bounds.

Just four minutes in, Kylian Mbappé nearly nabs an early goal with a shot from just outside the box that goes just wide left, tapped out by Moroccan goalkeeper Yassine “Bono” Bounou.

On the corner kick, defender Dayot Upamecano gets his head on the ball for a great on-target chance, but Bono is there again to tap it out of the goal. Early heroics from the Moroccan goalie, who has been incredible all tournament.

France and Morocco are underway from Foxborough. Today’s winner will advance to Tuesday’s semifinal in Dallas against Spain or Belgium.

By Saturday night, this field will be down to just four teams.

France remains the favorites — not just in their quarterfinal match, but for the rest of the World Cup. Morocco will carry the underdog tag, but they are a stronger side than what they fielded four years ago at Al Bayt Stadium. Only nine players from that 2022 roster remain, proving that the growth within the program has helped earned their place in the final eight.

On Thursday in Foxborough, Morocco will get another opportunity to show how far it has come to be among soccer’s elite.

Read more here.

France (4-2-3-1): Mike Maignan; Jules Koundé, Dayot Upamecano, William Saliba, Lucas Digne; Manu Koné, Adrien Rabiot; Ousmane Dembélé, Michael Olise, Désiré Doué; Kylian Mbappe

Morocco (4-2-3-1): Yassine Bounou; Achraf Hakimi, Issa Diop, Noussair Mazraoui, Anass Salah-Eddine; Neil El Aynaoui, Ayyoub Bouaddi; Brahim Díaz, Azzedine Ounahi, Chemsdine Talbi; Bilal El Khannous

While Argentine supporters have painted towering murals of Messi, written songs in his honor and tattooed his face, jersey and autograph on their bodies, there’s one form of tribute that remains largely forbidden across the country. Argentine law still prohibits expecting parents from turning Messi’s well-known surname into a first name.

As of June 2025, there were just 11 Argentine citizens or legal foreign residents whose first name was Messi, all 19 years old or younger, according to the country’s national registry of persons. That’s far less than the 205 American citizens with the first name Messi. Or the roughly 265 people in France. Or the 363 Brazilians. Or the staggering 3,402 residents of Peru.

When Hector Varela and Lorena Sanchez garnered global attention after obtaining permission to name their son Messi in 2014, other expecting parents in Messi’s home province of Santa Fe began making similar requests. The head of the Santa Fe civil registry office shut them down immediately, publicly reminding the populace, “Using surnames as first names is prohibited by law because it can cause confusion.”

Read more here.

Christian Pulisic reportedly suffered a bone bruise and microfracture in his leg during the USMNT’s 4-1 defeat to Belgium on Monday during the 2026 World Cup Round of 16, U.S. Soccer announced on Thursday.

The Athletic was the first to report the news.

The U.S. forward was injured in the 52nd minute when he kicked the back of Youri Tielemans’ foot as he wound up for a shot attempt outside of the Belgium penalty box. Despite trying to play through the injury, it was clear Pulisic was hurt following the contact. He was subbed off seven minutes later for Sebastian Berhalter.

Read more here.

Quansah, who started two games in place of the injured Reece James, was sent off in the second half against Mexico on Sunday for a sliding tackle that saw his studs raised.

FIFA announced on Thursday that the incident breached Article 14 of their code of conduct, which states a two-game suspension for serious foul play.

Quansah will miss Saturday’s quarterfinal against Norway and a potential semifinal against Argentina or Switzerland should England advance.

Six of the top eight squads in FIFA’s worldwide rankings are still alive in this year’s tournament, meaning we’re in for something special when the semifinals begin on Friday. There’s a time for Cinderella stories, and then there’s a time for the kaiju of the field to just start whomping on each other. That time is now.

Kylian Mbappe and France. Leo Messi and Argentina. Erling Haaland and Norway. Harry Kane and England. These are the titans of the sport, the nations that rule the world and the men who are their heart, soul and spine. They dominate both the pitch and the stat sheets, giving us highlight after cinematic highlight that other, already-eliminated teams can only watch and envy.

Read more here.

Mbappé enters the quarterfinals tied for second in the Golden Boot race with Erling Haaland on seven goals.

Saibari exited the Round of 16 match against Canada after 22 minutes with a hamstring issue.

“Everyone’s available, except Saibari, with the match coming too early for him, although he’s not out for the rest of the tournament, I hope,” said manager Mohamed Ouahbi. “Everyone’s available, although we of course will only select the players who are at 100%.”

Saibari has been an impactful player for Morocco in this World Cup. He scored the Atlas Lions’ first goal agianst Brazil, the game-winning goal against Scotland and the tying goal against Haiti.

He would later score the winning penalty kick in the Round of 32 win over the Netherlands.