Mbappe stars as France beat Morocco to reach World Cup semi-finals. Can anyone stop them?
Kylian Mbappe missed a penalty and scored a superb goal against Morocco as France marched into the World Cup semi-finals for the third tournament in a row.
The France captain had his first-half penalty saved by Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou after a three-minute delay to him taking it, but made amends by scoring the opening goal after the break.
His old Paris Saint-Germain team-mate Ousmane Dembele then increased France’s lead to put the result beyond doubt.
Mbappe was withdrawn with 13 minutes remaining after raising his arm to the bench and lying down on the floor while Morocco had the ball in play.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 team-mates on the bench.
Television footage subsequently showed Mbappe 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 semi-final against the winner of Friday’s clash between Spain and Belgium.
Jordan Campbell, Amy Lawrence, Simon Hughes, Conor O’Neill, and Geir Jordet analyse the key talking points…
Can anyone stop France?
That France have not fallen behind once at this World Cup is a testament to their brilliance. Yet it would be interesting to see what happens to them if, say, Spain took a semi-final lead, or maybe England in the final, wouldn’t it?
They 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 counter-attack 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.
Simon Hughes
Yet another unbelievable goal from Mbappe
Whoever ends up winning the Golden Boot will have a highlight reel for the ages. Tonight it was Mbappe’s turn, adding another sumptuous effort to open the scoring here and bring him level with Messi on eight goals.
He is now just five goals shy of the record for the most goals in a single World Cup campaign, held by another French striker, Just Fontaine, who scored a staggering 13 in the 1958 edition.
With two games still to come, the semi-final followed by either the final or third-place play-off, nobody is counting Mbappe out.
Like Messi against Egypt, Mbappe passed up the opportunity for a more routine addition to his tally with a tame penalty effort in the first half. Seemingly intent on matching his rival for style as well as output, Mbappe’s deadlock-breaking goal was a stunning curling effort, struck with the deadly mix of precision and speed we have become accustomed to from France’s record goalscorer.
After a scrappy passage of play in which Morocco failed to clear their lines, Desire Doue poked a loose ball to Mbappe on the left edge of the area. Faced with the towering centre-back Issa Diop blocking his route to goal, Mbappe shimmied his hips one way and then the other, opening up the sliver of space he needs to inflict damage.
Then, using Diop as a marker, he whipped the ball around him, blindsiding Bounou in goal. Even if the Moroccan goalkeeper had been granted a clean view, there was no stopping it. Smashed with the instep of Mbappe’s right foot, the ball arced viciously into the top-right corner, beyond Bounou’s despairing dive.
When the technique is this good, a missed penalty or last-ditch tackle only delays the inevitable.
Conor O’Neill
Why did he have to wait three minutes to take his penalty?
Exactly three minutes and 10 seconds elapsed between Mbappe being scythed to the ground and the Frenchman being allowed to actually take the penalty kick.
It was a staggeringly long wait. A check by the video assistant referee (VAR) was ongoing, but there was no foul on Achraf Hakimi in the build-up and the lunge from Noussair Mazraoui was about as clear-cut a foul as there has ever been. Why the delay then?
Mbappe seemed bemused as he stood over the ball, asking the referee for a signal. The Argentinian official Facundo Tello seemed more preoccupied with marching up to the players at the edge of the penalty area, warning them about infringement.
It saw Mbappe twice respot the kick, the second time seemingly at the behest of the referee. It will have done little to dampen the conspiracy theory, suggested by Egypt manager Hossam Hassan, that there is a pro-Argentine agenda.
Whether it psyched him out or not, it was a very poor penalty. He did not make a clean contact on the ball and placed it midway between the goalkeeper Bounou and the right post, which allowed Bono to easily gather.
It was Mbappe’s first miss after a run of 15 conversions. But this was Bono’s fourth World Cup penalty save — including shoutouts — meaning he has saved more than any other goalkeeper in the competition’s history.
Jordan Campbell
What makes Bounou so good at saving penalties?
Yassine Bounou is a mesmerising penalty specialist.
He has now faced 105 penalties and stopped 30, which gives him a 28.6 per cent save rate. This includes eight wins in 12 shootouts, including two in the World Cup (2022 and 2026), where he has been pivotal.
I’m fascinated with how he moves during penalty takers’ run-ups. He employs fakes and double-fakes.
If penalty takers attend to the goalkeeper at any point in time when they approach the ball, either with a goalkeeper-dependent technique — as we saw the Netherlands striker Justin Kluivert use in their shootout defeat to Morocco — or a goalkeeper-controlling technique — like we saw Mbappe use in the quarter-final in Foxboro — it’s impossible to ignore Bounou’s volatile and jerklike arm and leg movements.
For the Netherlands, Kluivert looked up at Bounou while he executed his kick, but the goalkeeper’s last-second erratic fake movements probably disrupted this execution and contributed to the miss, as Kluivert’s effort hit the left-hand post.
Mbappe did a stuttered run-up to the ball while observing Bounou at Gillette Stadium, probably in an attempt to let Bounou know that he’s being watched, so moving early to a side will be futile.
But Mbappe then put his gaze down at the ball to execute the shot with more precision.
His low effort to Bounou’s left is easily stopped by the goalkeeper.
Bounou has neutralised some of the best penalty takers in modern history, including Raul Jimenez, Erling Haaland and Ivan Toney, and he is slowly redefining how goalkeepers can take control and set the premise of the penalty shot duel.
Geir Jordet, penalty expert for The Athletic
France are much more than just Mbappe — and it must scare everyone else
While Mbappe understandably carries the torch, having scored 50 per cent of France’s goals at this World Cup, it says a lot about the top-scoring team at this tournament that he is not their sole source.
Dembele did not have a majestic game against Morocco but his low strike knocked the fight out of them – that is his fifth of the competition, which in most teams would be an eye-catching World Cup return. Bradley Barcola and Desire Doue, who tend to share a flank, have three between them.
France are only the second team in the last half-century to have two players score five or more goals at the same World Cup — after Brazil in 2002 (Ronaldo: eight; Rivaldo: five).
All in all, it contrasts with the other epic goalscorers whose form is so compelling. Only one other Argentinian forward has scored other than Lionel Messi (Lautaro Martinez, one). Similarly, only one Norwegian forward has scored other than Erling Haaland (Antonio Nusa, one).
Harry Kane (six goals) notably has more help from Jude Bellingham (four).
Curiously, the only French players to score are their forwards. No defenders have chipped in, no midfielders, and not even the slinky playmaker Michael Olise, king of the assist, has a goal to celebrate… yet.
Amy Lawrence
Where was the Morocco that wowed us earlier in this World Cup?
A hamstring issue meant Morocco were without their main goal threat in Ismael Saibari. In his absence, Plan B was activated: a strikerless system. Sadly for Morocco, it offered exactly zero goal threat at any point.
Mohamed Ouahbi’s hand was weakened by the fact that he was also missing his two first-choice left centre-backs and his left winger, but for one of the most entertaining sides in the tournament, Morocco were painfully conservative and lacklustre.
Ouahbi set up his team to sit deep and soak up the pressure. The issue, however, was that when they won possession, they failed to explode forward. Without a focal point, the reliance was on Brahim Diaz, Chemsdine Talbi and Bilal El Khannouss to break from deep as a unit.
It simply did not happen, and Morocco were a pale imitation of the team that started the tournament by knocking the ball around Brazil for fun.
Jordan Campbell
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