‘Unstoppable force’: Mbappe’s France crush Morocco’s World Cup dreams

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Mbappe scored one stunning goal and created another six minutes later to seal a 2-0 win for France on Thursday, and his team was termed an “unstoppable force” by supporters of Morocco. Yaseen Maroufi had no qualms admitting that while Moroccans were hoping and praying for a different result, they came prepared to accept a French win. “France are an unstoppable force because not only do they start with 11 very good players on the pitch, but they also boast one of the best bench strengths in the tournament,” he said with a shrug as he trudged off after the match. “France are the team to beat, and it’s very hard to beat them at the moment,” he added. But that’s not how the first quarterfinal of the 2026 tournament got under way on a scorching hot day in the East Coast US city. The underlying theme of the quarterfinal was revenge. With the semifinal loss of 2022 fresh on their minds, the Moroccans were hoping to even the score. Before the match, there was cautious optimism, hopes tied to a young team, trust in a new coach and prayers for the French captain to have a bad day on the field. And it seemed like he really was having a bad day when, in the 29th minute, Mbappe stepped up to take a penalty and had it saved by Morocco’s hero in goal, Yassine Bounou. Mbappe’s missed penalty came after a long delay, forced by player movements around the box and the ball’s movement from the spot. The star forward hesitated and struck a weak shot that Bounou gladly collected. It was reflective of an indecisive and cagey first half of football, where both teams seemed to hold back on committing too much in front of goal for fear of getting found out at the back. After half-time, Morocco seemed to have shed that fear and were the first to break into the French half, but the attempt, their only one on target, was saved. As the Atlas Lions attempted to take the game into the French half, they left spaces at the back and, as many teams would testify, space is not something you offer to the French. Suddenly, Mbappe was finding it easier to weave his way through the Moroccan defence on the left and, in the 60th minute, the move resulted in a goal for France – and an eighth World Cup 2026 goal for their talisman. He soon turned creator for Ousmane Dembele, who scored his team’s second and his own fifth, making France the only team in the tournament’s history to have two players score five or more goals in the same World Cup. The dizzying circles spun by Mbappe around the Moroccan defence did not yield more goals, but as the game wore on, the team in red found it increasingly difficult to take the game to the 2018 champions. The first half of the match, which was evenly fought, may have brought some hope, but it came crashing down swiftly towards the end. The stadium that was filled with chants of “Dima Maghreb” – the Moroccan football chant – fell quiet. The French supporters, whose chants of “Allez les Bleus” could only be heard once the Moroccans had fallen silent, were thrilled with the prospect of having a young team that could deliver this trophy and many more. “It was wonderful to watch all this French talent,” French American fan Claude Beyanoun, who watched the match with his son Zach, said. For the Moroccans, any dreams of this young team avenging the loss of that experienced team of 2022 were swept aside with the same scoreline as four years ago. The supporters had the wind taken out of their sails and wore dejected expressions as they walked out of the stadium, but there was still room for optimism. “We didn’t win this one, but we’ll win the next World Cup at home,” said Hamza, a Morocco fan who only gave one name, referring to the 2030 tournament that will be jointly cohosted by Morocco. “We must carry on after the loss. 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