France beats Morocco and is the first World Cup semi-finalist

France is the first semi-finalist of the 2026 World Cup. France and Morocco met forces in the first game of the quarter-finals of the competition, with the French team being stronger, with a 2-0, than its French-speaking counterpart and stamping its third consecutive passport to the semi-finals of a World Cup, after having been present at that stage in 2018 and in 2022, where it even reached the final, lifting the trophy in the first mentioned.

This Thursday's duel, at the Boston Stadium, ended up starting with a very balanced first half, but always with greater strength from Didier Deschamps' team.

And in the 28th minute of that first half, Kylian Mbappé created an opportunity and even managed to win a penalty, after being brought down in the Moroccan penalty area.

Now, if it weren't for there being a specialist in defending penalties in front of him and the number 10 Frenchman could have even opened the scoring, but Yassine Bounou, who has only suffered three of the last nine 'maximum punishments' in World Cups, ended up guessing the side of a much-reported penalty from the Real Madrid player.

The first half continued with an offensive avalanche from France, which saw its shots collide with the African 'wall', which led to the game being 0-0 at half-time.

But this equality wouldn't last much longer, as, in Morocco's best moment in the game so far, Kylian Mbappé decided to redeem the missed penalty to 'invent' an authentic goal, with a shot at the hour of play that didn't give the Al Hilal goalkeeper a chance.

Now, if this goal had come suddenly, the second was not far behind, as just six minutes later, it was Mbappé's turn to assist current Ballon d'Or winner Ousmane Dembélé, who did not waste the space given and the Paris Saint-Germain striker put the ball into the back of Bounou's net, who could have done nothing against such a well-placed shot with his right foot.

Until the end, the Moroccan team tried to respond, but ended up never creating much danger for the French team, with Mike Maignan being a mere spectator for much of the match, as the Moroccans only made one shot in the entire match.

In this way, France is now waiting for its semi-final opponent in the game this Friday, July 10, 2026, in a duel that will put the teams of Spain and Belgium face to face, confirming, from now on, a fight between two European nations for a place in the final on July 19, at the MetLife Stadium.

It should be remembered that, on the other side of the 'pyramid' are Norway, England, Argentina and Switzerland, among which only one of the teams will reach the decisive match.

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