France Celebrates World Cup Semi-Final Spot After Win Over Morocco

French fans erupted in celebration in Boston and Paris following their national team's 2-0 victory over Morocco on Thursday, securing a place in the World Cup semi-finals. The Tricolor will face the winner of the Spain-Belgium quarter-final match on Tuesday. Despite a missed penalty by Kylian Mbappe that briefly raised concerns, France's dominance on the field was never in doubt, contrasting with their tougher match against Paraguay in the previous round.

Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele scored within six minutes (60th to 66th) to clinch the win and keep France's hopes alive for a third World Cup title, following their 1998 and 2018 victories. At 28 years old and playing in his third World Cup, Mbappe has now scored 19 World Cup goals, just one shy of Lionel Messi's record of 20. Dembele has scored five goals in this tournament, making France the second team in the last 50 years to have two players with at least five goals each in a single World Cup, a feat previously achieved by Brazil in 2002, who went on to win the title.

With a perfect record and 16 goals scored so far, more than any other team, France appears poised to deliver a memorable farewell to coach Didier Deschamps, who has announced this will be his final campaign as the national team manager.