World Cup: Mbappé missed his moment for France; so he conjured another

Дата публикации: 09-07-2026 22:20:21

Kylian Mbappé let France down once in the first half with a missed penalty kick, but took them through to the next round during a dominant second half against Morocco in their 2-0 quarterfinal win.

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He stuttered, he started, and then stumbled when France needed him most.

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Kylian Mbappé’s first-half missed penalty kick against Morocco loomed like an angry boil in the World Cup quarterfinal, the best scoring chance Les Bleus had mustered against their stalwart African opponents.

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He’d been forced to wait for more than three minutes to take the shot after being scythed down by Noussair Mazraoui in the box, a stop-start delay that was followed by a feeble stop-start penalty kick that goalkeeper Yassine Bounou stopped easily. It was Mbappé’s first miss of a penalty in any of his World Cup games.

That long wait for French disappointment was then followed by another long wait before something sublime — a 60th minute moment of magic from Mbappé that thrust France forward to a 2-0 win and into the semifinals.

A botched clearance bounced to him in the corner of the box, where he sent a swirling, curling shot around centreback Issa Diop and into the far side netting. It was his eighth goal at this tournament — 20th in 20 World Cup games — and ties him atop the current Golden Boot race with Lionel Messi.

The conspiracy theorists were at full throat on social media over the delay, pointing to the fact it was an All-Argentinian officiating crew, and Argentina is France’s main rivals for the World Cup crown. France coach Didier Deschamps said he understood Spanish, and followed the officials conversation that there was a separate foul VAR was reviewing.

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“I’m not really sure of exactly what happened. I have some doubts, but yes, it took a while for this penalty. Kylian was ready to shoot,” he said. “I don’t want to find excuses for Kylian, but this was not an easy situation. … We need to adapt, and yes, it might create some tension.”

Morocco’s goalkeeper #01 Yassine Bounou concedes a goal scored by France’s forward #10 Kylian Mbappe (out of frame) and his team’s first goal during the 2026 World Cup football tournament quarterfinal match between France and Morocco at Boston Stadium in Foxborough on July 9, 2026. Photo by ODD ANDERSEN /AFP via Getty Images

Les Bleus will now head to Dallas for a high-noon showdown on July 14 against either Spain or Belgium, who play Friday.

“I don’t know if we are on a mission, but there’s only one way for us to release the tension, and this is to get the victory,” Mbappé said. “We are now reaching the semifinals. We still have a long way to go. We know that the next game will be even tougher, but we are fully ready.”

A slightly flavourless joke could be made about the team that’s been flying around on an ICE charter is the one to deport an African team from this World Cup, but it’s the second time France has been the one to send Morocco home — doing it in the 2022 semifinals in Qatar.

Morocco had been put on the back foot by the world’s No. 1 ranked team from the start, getting outshot 13-1 in the opening half — and that errant effort only coming in an injury-time free kick. The Atlas Lions had just a single touch in France’s box through the first 45.

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A second-half surge, like Morocco had shown against Canada, was expected right up until Mbappé popped that balloon with his surgical strike. When Ousmane Dembélé made it 2-0 with a low strike past Bono off the hop six minutes later, the script was all but written.

Morocco had complained after Mbappé’s goal, pointing to a French handball in the lead-up to the play, but it wasn’t able to be challenged through VAR because the ball had switched possession twice, leading to a separate phase of play.

Coach Mohamed Ouahbi said his players had briefly stopped because of it, but still didn’t complain about the outcome. Morocco may have been without striker Ismael Saibari — injured against Canada — but Ouahbi lauded the French team for their performance, calling them “beautiful.”

“We have to recognize that it’s a great team,” said Ouahbi. “They have excellent players. … They had better goal-scoring opportunities. They were very good in the transitions. We lacked ideas and freshness to do more when we had ball possession. We have to accept this defeat.

“I don’t want to dwell on the injured players. This happens in every national team. Certain players cannot play all the matches. We have a young team. We want to grow. We will continue to do so. … We’re not looking for excuses. When we take 26 players, we know that we’re going to need them. We’re not going to play with 11 players.”

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Morocco players and team officials huddle after the 2-0 loss during the World Cup 2026 quarterfinal match between France and Morocco at Boston Stadium on July 9, 2026 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Photo by Molly Darlington /Getty Images

Morocco had an xG of just 0.12 on four shots, and any time they advance the ball past the midfield players, the French backline broke up any attacks, deftly turning the ball the other way and forcing Morocco to backtrack before they got caught in transition. Final numbers: 3.05-0.14 xG, and France outshooting them 22-5.

The Atlas Lions became the first African nation to reach the quarterfinals at back-to-back World Cups, while France makes their third-straight semifinal appearance. The game falls on Bastille Day, a patriotic providence for the French team.

“The players understood that being part of the French team is a duty, a duty to the fans, to the people in France, to the young generation. This shirt is extremely important, whether in my first or second life as a player and a coach, and I see pride in those players wearing the shirt,” said Deschamps. “Today we’ve only reached the semifinals. Tomorrow we’ll know who the opponent would be for the next game. We’re not at the final yet. We have another game to play, which will be tough.

“It is the World Cup, and everyone in the semifinal means that you are part of the four best teams in the world.”

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