France advanced to its third straight World Cup Semifinal with a win over Morocco.
France's starting XI was as expected. Mike Maignan started in net behind a backline of Jules Koundé, Dayot Upamecano, William Saliba, Lucas Digne. Adrien Rabiot was paired with Manu Koné in the midfield.
Then up front was arguably the best attacking quartet in the world with Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembélé, Michael Olise, and Désiré Doué.
Morocco had one big absence in Ismael Saibari on the bench. Yassine Bounou was in goal behind a backline that featured Achraf Hakimi, Issa Diop, Noussair Mazraoui, and Anass Salah-Eddine.
Neil El Aynaoui and Ayyoub Bouaddi made up the midfield while Bilal El Khannouss, Azzedine Ounahi, and Chemsdine Talbi and Brahim Díaz made up the attacking quartet.
Mbappe forced an early corner kick that resulted in a header in on goal that Bono made a point-blank save to stop in the early minutes of the match.
Hakimi had a chance to launch a ball into the box in the 16th minute but he launched the ball over goal. Two minutes later France got another chance to try and score with a header on goal but Dembélé let the chance go to waste heading the ball out of play.
In the 25th minute Dembélé was taken down in the box by a Moroccan defender and a penalty kick was issued. After a three minute delay, Mbappe took the shot but it was taken poorly and rolled into the hands of a diving Bono. Heading into the hydration break, Morocco had all the momentum thanks to the save.
Dembélé sent a curler on goal but his shot whizzed by goal in the 31st minute. Doué had a chance to put France up a goal in the 35th minute but Bono got to ground fast and deflected the shot out for a corner kick. Digne took a shot from distance but the strike rattled off the crossbar and out of bounds.
late into stoppage time, Morocco earned a free kick just outside the corner of the box. Hakimi launched a shot on goal but it was sent wide for a goal kick.
Heading into the locker room after 45 minutes, France had been largely the only attacking side. They had the majority of the chances but failed to take advantage. Morocco was looking to strike on the counter but similarly struggled to convert.
To begin the second half, Morocco seemed to have improved in its ability to get into the final third. Still, the AFCON nation was without a goal.
Doué got the first chance of the half in the 54th minute but his shot was rifled right into the chest of Bono. Olise did a great job to escape defenders and had his pass attempt deflected right to Mbappe in the 55th minute but the Real Madrid striker sent the shot wayward.
But finally Mbappe showed everyone why he is one of the top strikers in the world. In a blink of an eye he sent a curlier into the far corner of the net to give Les Blues the lead in the 60th minute.
Morocco made two changes after the goal as Sofyan Amrabat and Soufiane Rahimi replaced Bouaddi and El Khannouss.
Six minutes after the goal, Dembélé put his mark on the match. He sent a low-driven shot to Bono's left and while the goalkeeper was able to get his glove to the shot, it was not enough to keep it out of the net.
Coming out of the hydration break Koné was replaced by Warren Zaïre-Emery. Similarily, Morocco replaced Diaz and Salah-Eddine with Gessime Yassine and Zakaria El Ouahdi.
France made a double change in the 77th minute as Mbappe and Doue, made way for Bradley Barcola and Jean-Phillipe Mateta. The striker nearly made an instant impact launching in the air for a header but it was stopped by Bono in the 80th minute.
Maignan made a big save in the 83rd minute to keep the clean sheet. The shot from Ounahi went through a wall of players but the shot stopper was still able to make the stop. A glancing header of the ensuing keeper had French fans nervous but it hit the side netting.
In the 85th minute Amine Sbai replaced Talbi. France made a change of its own in the 87th minute as Kounde was replaced by Malo Gusto. Also in the 87th minute, Barcola nearly found the scoresheet but Bono made an impressive diving save. The Moroccan keeper made another impressive save on stoppage time on another Mateta chance.
With the win, France will play either Spain or Belgium.
