BOSTON, USA – Not long after their team was eliminated from the World Cup, several Moroccan fans openly accepted membership in Kylian Mbappé’s fan club.
Mbappe scored one stunning goal and another six minutes later to seal France’s 2-0 victory on Thursday. His team was described by Moroccan supporters as an “unstoppable force”.
Yassine Marfi admitted that while Moroccans are hoping and praying for a different result, they are ready to accept a French victory.
“France are unstoppable because not only do they have 11 very good players on the pitch, but they also have one of the best benches in the competition,” he said with a shrug as he trudged along after the game.
“France are the team to beat and it’s very difficult to beat them at the moment,” he added.
But the first quarterfinal of the 2026 tournament began on a scorching hot day in a city on America’s east coast.
The underlying theme of the quarterfinals was revenge. With their loss in the 2022 semi-final still fresh in their minds, the Moroccans were hoping to equalize.
There was cautious optimism before the game, hopes attached to the young team, faith in the new coach and prayers for the French captain to have a bad day on the field.
And it looked like Mbappé was having a really bad day when he came forward to take a penalty in the 29th minute, only to have it saved by Moroccan hero Yassin Bounou, who went in on goal.
Mbappé’s penalty miss was decided after a considerable delay due to the movement of players near the box and the movement of the ball from the spot. The star forward hesitated and took a weak shot, but Bounow was happy to collect it.
It reflected an indecisive and erratic first half of football, with both teams appearing to refrain from making much of an attack in front of goal for fear of being exposed at the back.
After half-time, Morocco seemed to put those fears to rest and be the first to break into the French half, but their attempt was saved with their only shot on target.
The Atlas Lions left space at the back in an attempt to take the game into the French half, but as many teams will attest, space is not something they offer the French.
Suddenly, Mbappé found it easier to break through the Moroccan defense on the left, and in the 60th minute, this move led to France’s goal, which would become France’s talismanic goal and their eighth goal of the 2026 World Cup.
He quickly became the creator of Ousmane Dembele, who scored his team’s second goal and his fifth, making France the only team in the history of the competition to have two players score five or more goals in the same World Cup.
Mbappé’s dizzying circles around the Moroccan defense produced no further goals, but as the match wore on, the Reds found it increasingly difficult to take the game against the 2018 champions.
There may have been some hope in the first half as the match was evenly matched, but it quickly disappeared in the final stages.
The stadium, which had been filled with chants of the Moroccan soccer chant “Dima Maghreb,” fell silent.
French supporters, whose chants of “Are les Bleus” could be heard only after the Moroccans were silent, were excited by the prospect of having a young team that could bring them this trophy and many others.
“It was great to see so many talented French players,” said French-American fan Claude Beyanoun, who attended the game with his son Zach.
For the Moroccans, dreams of this young team avenging the defeat of the more experienced team in 2022 were dashed with the same scoreline as four years ago.
Fans left the stadium disappointed in the wind, but there was still room for optimism.
“We didn’t win this time, but we will win the next World Cup at home,” said Hamza, a Moroccan fan who gave only one name, referring to the 2030 tournament, which will be co-hosted with Morocco.
“We have to keep going after we lose. This is football. This is life.”
