Even when Kylian Mbappe looked fallible, he then appeared fantastic. Mbappe has been emulating Lionel Messi over the last month and when he did so in unwanted fashion, showing that the greats are not immune to missed penalties, he provided the kind of response the legendary Argentine had against first Austria and then Egypt. He scored.
And so the Moroccan resistance was broken by a moment of magnificence. Beaten 2-0 by France in the 2022 semi-finals, they suffered the same scoreline in a rematch as Mbappe pilots France towards a third successive final. He followed his goal with a third assist of the tournament, enabling Ousmane Dembele to seal a deserved victory.
Mbappe walked off, arm aloft to acknowledge the applause, and ended with an ice pack on his right foot. When he celebrated after the final whistle, it seemed a precautionary change, rather than a reason to suspect he is a doubt for the Bastille Day semi-final against Spain or Belgium.
The entire competition can seem part of a wider battle between Mbappe and Messi: for the Golden Ball, the Golden Boot and the World Cup itself. The France captain drew level with his Argentinian counterpart on eight goals in the United States. His overall tally now stands at 20 in as many World Cup matches. It would have been at least 21 but for the brilliance of Yassine Bounou.
In the first half, the Morocco goalkeeper threatened to curtail Didier Deschamps’ reign. Morocco were shorn of a threat themselves, but this was one of the great goalkeeping displays of the last month. Bounou is a penalty specialist, as the Netherlands can testify, and he added to his reputation for excellence in such situations after the makeshift centre-back Noussair Mazraoui tripped Mbappe.
Four days earlier in Philadelphia, Mbappe had laughed off Paraguayan provocation. This time, he was flustered, more by the officials than the opponents as he was delayed by a needlessly long VAR check to ratify the award of the spot-kick. The wait stretched to three minutes and 12 seconds and, after a stuttering run-up, Mbappe’s penalty was a tame sidefoot. Bounou held it easily.
His defiance had begun early. He made two terrific early saves to repel Mbappe’s 20-yard shot and Dayot Upamecano’s close-range header. He was terrific again when Desire Doue robbed Ayyoub Bouaddi, strolled forward and shot. Just before half-time, he did superbly to tip Lucas Digne’s swerving shot on to the bar.
Yet if that made it apparent that it would take something special to beat Bounou, Mbappe obliged with a curled shot with minimal backlift from the edge of the box. Morocco complained Adrien Rabiot had handled in the build-up; the finish, though, was unstoppable.
Mbappe was not finished, but Morocco soon were. France have the sort of side where a Ballon d’Or winner can take second billing and Dembele scored the second goal. His tally of five for the tournament has been camouflaged by Mbappe’s eight. Remarkably, Dembele had never scored in a tournament until his previous trip to Boston, when he got a hat-trick against Norway.
Two of those were assisted by Mbappe. A former Paris Saint-Germain teammate turned provider on a third occasion. The captain first laid the ball off to Dembele and then created the room for him to shoot with his driving run. Bounou got a hand to Dembele’s effort, but only pushed it into the net.
Morocco could be forgiven for being relieved when Mbappe in effect substituted himself. One attempt to halt him had resulted in a penalty. Another brought Issa Diop a booking. Any contrast between the forward nonpareil and Morocco’s attacking efforts may have been unflattering but they were exacerbated by the absence of the injured Ismael Saibari.
Having taken the game to Brazil and the Netherlands, Morocco adopted a very different approach against the tournament favourites. Maybe it was simply a recognition that France are a class apart from much of the rest. Perhaps they took heart from Paraguay’s obduracy. Whichever, there was no out-and-out striker. Morocco congested the midfield, looking to crowd out Michael Olise.
In the process, though, they became too negative. France had 13 shots before Morocco’s first. After an hour, Mohamed Ouahbi’s side had an xG of just 0.06. By the time they stirred, it was too late. Neil El Aynaoui headed into the side netting after 84 minutes.
The midfielder was born in Nancy, but it was not a day when France had cause to rue those among their diaspora who represent other countries. Instead, African involvement in the World Cup was ended by a player with Algerian and Cameroonian heritage.
Morocco were Africa’s first semi-finalists in 2022. Now they are its first back-to-back quarter-finalists. But France, and Mbappe, look intent on making a still greater mark in history.
