![\"\"](\"https:\/\/skychatz.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/skysports-world-cup-quarter-final_7290993-1.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nMbappe, who at 27 became the youngest player to rack up 20 World Cup appearances, also bagged his 20th World Cup goal with a curling shot from just inside the box before Ousmane Dembele \u200badded another six minutes later with a low drive to set up a last-four meeting with Belgium or Spain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mbappe is the tournament\u2019s joint \u200btop scorer with eight goals, level with Lionel Messi, and he trails the Argentine by one goal in the World \u2060Cup all-time scoring list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s three (semi-finals) in a row \u2014 it\u2019s good,\u201d France coach Didier Deschamps said. \u201cIt seems logical and natural, but you still have to get \u200bthe job done. It was tricky, the penalty\u2026 when it\u2019s Kylian. He never has any doubts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut we\u2019re exactly where we wanted to be,\u201d said Deschamps, who \u200bsubstituted Mbappe late in the game after a knock to his ankle. \u201cWe\u2019re taking another step forward today, finding ourselves in the final four once again. It shows we\u2019re right there in the mix.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today France were stronger but we are able to compete and progress and maybe eliminate them in four years\u2019 time,\u201d Ouahbi said. Morocco are co-hosting the 2030 World Cup with Spain and Portugal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MBAPPE EQUALS LLORIS RECORD<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The French, bidding to become only the third nation to reach three consecutive World Cup finals, started strongly with a couple of early chances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mbappe, who also equalled the all-time French record held by Hugo Lloris for World \u200bCup matches, had an early opportunity with \u200ba low drive that Morocco \u2060keeper Yassine Bounou managed to tip wide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
France earned a 28th-minute penalty through Mbappe but Bounou calmly stood his ground, picked the correct side and smothered the France forward\u2019s low effort. It was Mbappe\u2019s first penalty miss for the national \u200bteam since Euro 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The title favourites also hit the crossbar in first-half stoppage time through Lucas Digne\u2019s powerful long-distance \u200bdrive, as defensive-minded \u2060Morocco struggled to reach their opponents\u2019 box and did not have an effort on or off target in the entire first half, with Brahim Diaz as the lone striker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mbappe made amends for his miss on the hour mark with a quick look up and superb finish, and before Morocco had time to recover the twice \u2060world champions \u200bstruck again through Dembele.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The forward, who forms a formidable frontline with Mbappe and Michael Olise, made \u200buse of the space opened up by Mbappe\u2019s run to rifle in the second goal and his fifth of the tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA mission? I don\u2019t know but we can\u2019t afford to let up,\u201d \u200bMbappe said. \u201cThere\u2019s still a long way to go, and what lies ahead is even tougher, but we\u2019ll recover well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(Reuters) \u2013 France captain Kylian Mbappe missed a penalty but curled in a superb goal \u200con the hour as France struck twice in six minutes to brush aside Morocco 2-0 on Thursday and book their spot in the World Cup semi-finals. Mbappe, who at 27 became the youngest player to rack up 20 World Cup […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7,118],"tags":[133,113],"class_list":["post-2679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-live","category-sports","tag-cup-world-2026","tag-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skychatz.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skychatz.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skychatz.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skychatz.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skychatz.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2679"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/skychatz.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2681,"href":"https:\/\/skychatz.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2679\/revisions\/2681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skychatz.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skychatz.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skychatz.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}