By Toby TAIWO
Morocco’s impressive World Cup run came to an end Thursday when two second half goals from Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele sealed a semifinals ticket for France.
France also knocked Morocco out in 2022 in the semi finals.
Mbappe had a first-half penalty saved, but regained his composure to score a magnificent opener.
That was Mbappe’s eighth goal at the tournament, moving him level again with Lionel Messi in the race for the Golden Boot, before he came off late on and watched the final minutes with an ice pack around his right ankle.
Before exiting, he set up Dembele to run through and settle the contest watched by 63,811 at the Gillette Stadium.
Their 2-0 win four years ago in Qatar came in the semi-finals, and this time the victory for Les Bleus takes them through to the last four. They will face Spain or Belgium in Dallas next Tuesday.
France are looking to reach a third consecutive World Cup final in their last tournament before long-serving coach Didier Deschamps stands down.
Winners in 2018 and runners-up in 2022, it has felt like they have eased through to another semi-final and they were too strong for a Moroccan team lacking firepower in the absence of the injured Ismael Saibari.
Mbappe is one of the greatest goal-scorers of his generation, and the World Cup continues to bring the very best out of him.
After netting braces in the group-stage wins over Senegal and Iraq, as well as the last-32 defeat of Sweden, he got the only goal from the penalty spot against Paraguay in the last round.
He has now scored 20 goals in 20 World Cup appearances, within one goal of Messi’s overall tournament record of 21.
More could have been expected from Morocco, who had more of the crowd behind them but lacked a cutting edge in attack as France kept a third clean sheet in as many knockout games.
