FOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS - JULY 9: Ousmane Dembele of France celebrates scoring a goal to make the score 2-0 with his team-mates during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Quarter Final match between France and Morocco at Boston Stadium on July 9, 2026 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images)
FOXBOROUGH, MA – The France National Team battled to a 2-0 victory over Morocco in a 2026 FIFA World Cup Quarterfinal match on Thursday evening.
The match kicked off at Gillette Stadium to a crowd of 64,000.
Starting XI for France & Morocco.
France starting lineup: 4-2-3-1 | Mike Maignan, Jules Koundé, William Saliba, Dayot Upamencano, Lucas Digne, Manu Koné, Adrien Rabiot, Désiré Doué, Michael Olise, Ousmane Dembélé, Kylian Mbappé (C)
France substitutes: |Brice Samba, Robin Risser, Bradley Barcola, Rayan Cherki, Ibrahima Konaté, Theo Hernández, Lucas Hernández, Malo Gusto, Maxence Lacroix, Aurélien Tchouaméni, N’Golo Kante, Warren Zaïre-Emery, Jean-Philippe Mateta, Magnes Akliouche, Marcus Thuram
Morocco starting lineup: 4-2-3-1 | Yassine Bounou, Achraf Hakimi (C), Issa Diop, Noussair Mazraoui, Anass Salah-Eddine, Ayyoub Bouaddi, Neil El Aynaoui, Azzedine Ounahi, Brahim Díaz, Neil El Aynaoui, Bilal El Khannouss, Chemsdine Talbi
Morocco substitutes: | Sofyan Amrabat, Marwane Saâdane, Soufiane Rahimi, Ismael Saibari, Munir El Kajoui, Zakaria El Ouahdi, Samir El Mourabet, Gessime Yassine, Amine Sbaï, Chadi Riad, Youssef Belammari, Ayoub El Kaabi, Ayoube Amaimouni, Ahmed Reda Tagnaouti, Redouane Halhal
Officials: | Facundo Tello (Center Official), Juan Pablo Belatti (AR1), Gabriel Chade (AR2), Dario Herrera (4th official), & Hernan Mastrangelo (Video Assistant Referee).
The match kicked off with Morocco immediately launching the ball into France’s defensive third, looking to pin their opponents back and establish an early foothold.
France created the first real chance in the third minute when Kylian Mbappé fired a low effort toward the bottom-left corner, but Yassine Bounou reacted well to push it behind for a corner.
The ensuing corner produced another dangerous opportunity, as Dayot Upamecano’s header was once again denied by Bounou before the rebound was cleared to safety.
France continued to apply pressure, and in the 10th minute Désiré Doué tried his luck from outside the penalty area, but his right-footed effort was blocked and cleared by the Moroccan defense.
The French pressure remained relentless, and Ousmane Dembélé came close in the 20th minute when his header drifted just wide of the post.
Five minutes later, France was awarded a penalty after Noussair Mazraoui brought down Kylian Mbappé inside the penalty area.
Kylian Mbappé stepped up to take the ensuing penalty, but Yassine Bounou denied him with a low save to his right.
Ousmane Dembélé had France’s next chance in the 32nd minute, but his curling left-footed effort drifted just wide of the post.
Désiré Doué nearly broke the deadlock three minutes later, forcing Bounou into another save as his right-footed shot was pushed away for a corner kick.
Lucas Digne had a massive chance to give France the lead in the 45th minute, but his effort was tipped by Bounou and deflected off the crossbar.
Achraf Hakimi registered Morocco’s only shot of the half in the fifth minute of stoppage time, but his free-kick effort sailed wide of the net.
After the initial 45+4 minutes, the match entered halftime level at 0-0.
Forward Kylian Mbappé unleashed a curling right-footed strike that nestled into the bottom-right corner beyond Yassine Bounou, giving France a 1-0 lead.
Following the goal, Morocco head coach Mohamed Ouahbi made his first two substitutions of the match, replacing Ayyoub Bouaddi and Bilal El Khannouss with Sofyan Amrabat and Soufiane Rahimi.
In the 63rd minute, Morocco defender Issa Diop was shown a yellow card for a hard foul on Mbappé.
Just two minutes later, France doubled its advantage.
FOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS – JULY 09: General view during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Quarter Final match between France and Morocco at Boston Stadium on July 09, 2026 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Julian Finney – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
In the 86th minute, France head coach Didier Deschamps made his final change of the match, replacing Jules Koundé with Malo Gusto.
A minute later, Bradley Barcola had a massive chance to add to France’s lead, but his right-footed shot was denied by a strong save from Yassine Bounou to keep the score at 2-0.
After 90+6 minutes, the match concluded in a 2-0 victory for France.
Full Time between France & Morocco.
Morocco have been eliminated from the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The France National Team now travel to take on the winner of Belgium / Spain National Team in a 2026 FIFA World Cup Semifinal match. The match will kick off in Arlington, Texas, at AT&T Stadium on Tuesday, July 14th at 3:00 p.m. EST.
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