France beat Morocco 2-0 in Boston on 9 July to become the first semi-finalist of the 2026 World Cup. The result removed the last African side from the tournament, so the expanded 48-team edition that sent a record ten African nations to the finals will have no African team in its final four .
Kylian Mbappe missed a first-half penalty, saved low by Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, then scored just after the hour from a Desire Doue pass 1. Ousmane Dembele added the second minutes later, into the space Moroccan defenders left as they shifted to cover Mbappe. Morocco managed a single shot on target, in the 83rd minute 2; Bounou's goalkeeping kept the margin at two.
The win was France's second successive World Cup elimination of Morocco, repeating the exact 2-0 of the 2022 semi-final. Morocco had beaten co-host Canada 3-0 to reach the last eight and were drawn with France that same day ; Egypt's defeat by Argentina had already left them as the continent's only survivor.
The expansion changed who reaches the finals, not who reaches the last four. The extra sixteen places widened the group stage, but the knockout draw still funnels through the seeded European and South American blocs, which is how a record ten-nation African entry converts to zero semi-finalists. France meet the winner of Spain against Belgium in the semi-final on 14 July.
