France beat Morocco to reach World Cup semi-finals for the third consecutive time

Star footballer Kylian Mbappe made a spectacular comeback after missing a penalty, scoring his 20th World Cup goal and helping France beat Morocco 2-0 to reach the World Cup semifinals. With this win, France became the third country to reach the World Cup semifinals for three consecutive times.

The team of French football coach Didier Deschamps took control of the match by scoring two goals within six minutes of the start of the second half in the quarterfinal match on Thursday and paved the way to face either Spain or Belgium in the next round.

In the first half, Mbappe's penalty was saved by Yassine Bounou, but immediately after the break, he scored a spectacular goal for France, which was his eighth goal in the tournament. With this, he equaled Lionel Messi in the race for the Golden Boot.

Soon after, Ousmane Dembele scored another goal to make France's lead 2-0. Mbappe assisted Dembele's goal. France dominated the first half, and thanks to Bounou, the score was goalless at halftime. Morocco's goalkeeper saved a header from Dayot Upamecano just five minutes in and then showed how dangerous he is in a penalty shootout.

In the 25th minute, Noussair Mazraoui brought down Mbappe inside the box, but when the Real Madrid striker took the penalty shot, Bounou made the right guess and saved the penalty. No goalkeeper has saved more than Bounou's four penalties in the World Cup, including penalty shootouts.

Immediately after, during the hydration break, Mbappe complained to the authorities that he was made to wait for more than three minutes before taking the kick. Bounou didn't stop there and saved a brilliant long shot from Desire Doue and a 35-yard shot from Lucas Digne on the crossbar to ensure the score was goalless at halftime.

In the first half, France took 13 shots, while Morocco took just one and struggled to make an impact in the final third. If their game plan was based on preventing France from scoring, it failed early in the second half. Morocco struggled to create any significant opportunities, which allowed first Mbappe and then Dembele to make them pay, and France became the third country to reach the World Cup semifinals for three consecutive times.

Mbappe was substituted in the 77th minute after spending some time in the middle circle, but he left the field to a standing ovation, and his place was taken by Jean-Philippe Mateta. On Tuesday, in Dallas, France and Mbappe will face Spain or Belgium, as they continue their quest to reach the World Cup final for the third time in a row.