France brushed Morocco aside with another hugely impressive World Cup performance — but there was concern for Kylian Mbappe after he was forced off late on.
Mbappe bounced back from having an early penalty saved to curl France into the lead with a fine finish. It was his eighth goal of the tournament, drawing him level with Lionel Messi in the Golden Boot race.
Mbappe then turned provider for France’s second, setting up Ousmane Dembele to finish low into the bottom corner.
France will next face either Spain or Belgium for a place in the final, with all eyes now on whether the 27-year-old can overcome that late injury scare.
Morocco were the last African team remaining in this World Cup. They were the only team to actually win a knockout match — their round of 16 victory over co-hosts Canada. Morocco and Egypt had got through the round of 32 on penalty shootouts.
It means African sides finish this competition with 1 win, 2 shootout successes and 9 defeats in the knockout stages.
It’s worth noting of course, how many of those knockout matches were agonisingly close, such as Senegal’s collapse against Belgium, Cape Verde and Egypt taking champions Argentina to the brink, and England needing late Harry Kane heroics to get past DR Congo in the round of 32.
