From The Sports Desk: France steamrolls another opponent, cruises into semifinals

The Frenchmen steamrolled another opponent yesterday, easily beating rival Morocco 2-0, behind goals from Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé , who have combined to score 13 times this tournament. France is now onto the semifinals and is one win away from making its third consecutive World Cup final.

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Who could stop France? Perhaps Spain or Belgium, who play today in the second quarterfinal. Our NBC News team will be live-blogging the game , so come follow along!

World Cup Recap

France barely broke into a sweat yesterday, despite the 89-degree temperatures at kickoff, as it brushed aside a disappointing Morocco 2-0 to reach its third consecutive World Cup semifinal.

Instead, France’s fans — and coach Didier Deschamps — were left sweating about the fitness of captain and its goal scorer at the tournament, Kylian Mbappé , who went off injured late on after an eventful match that saw him miss a first-half penalty and score and assist in the second half.

Images later showed the striker sitting on the bench with an ice pack on his right ankle. “I took a knock to the ankle, but I’m fine,” Mbappé said postmatch.

Many players on this Morocco team learned their trade in France’s finest soccer academies and have played in the French league, and yet they couldn’t lay a glove on this outrageously talented French side. The Atlas Lions badly missed the goal threat and relentless pressing of the injured Ismael Saibari .

“When we had ball possession, our transitions were not great and we had to run a little more,” Morocco coach Mohamed Ouahbi said. “Their players were in their comfort zone.”

Mbappé’s opener in the 60th minute, a right-footed curler from the edge of the box, was his 20th career World Cup goal and came in just his 20th World Cup appearance. Mbappé now leads the Golden Boot standings with eight, ahead of Lionel Messi because he has more assists than Argentina’s captain.

This could be the greatest Golden Boot race we’ve ever seen, with other star names also in contention: Norway’s Erling Haaland has seven goals, after scoring twice against Brazil, while England captain Harry Kane has six. Mbappé’s teammate Ousmane Dembélé has five.

France, aiming to reach three straight World Cup finals, will face either Spain or Belgium in the semifinals in Dallas on Tuesday, which happens to be Bastille Day.

World Cup Preview

One player surprisingly off the pace in the race for the Golden Boot is Spain’s Lamine Yamal . The 18-year-old Barcelona winger, one of the most exciting young players in world soccer, has only one goal to his name so far, but will be looking to change that when La Roja take on Belgium today. Spain is in the quarterfinals for the first time since winning the trophy in 2010.

Expect Yamal, and Spain, to have much of the ball. With a midfield of Rodri , Pedri and Dani Olmo , it’s not surprising that Spain leads the tournament’s possession stats. Unsettling that trio will be the key to Belgium’s chances of success. Up top, Spain’s unshowy striker Mikel Oyarzabal doesn’t attract the headlines like his rivals in the race for the Golden Boot, but he is effective and has already scored four goals at this tournament.

Belgium is the third-highest scorer at this World Cup and is coming up against the tournament’s meanest defense. Spain’s goalkeeper Unai Simón hasn’t conceded in 519 consecutive minutes across the past two World Cups. La Roja has beaten Belgium in their past five meetings, conceding only once.

Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku has become the first player in World Cup history to score as a substitute in four matches — his last coming in the 4-1 thumping over the United States in the round of 16.

Men In Blazers

In the blistering Boston heat, Kylian Mbappé and his main-character-energy once again showed up as France defeated Morocco 2-0, and early difficulties only pushed the forward as the game went on.

Morocco’s goalkeeper Yassine Bounou denied the Real Madrid forward from the penalty spot in the first half , but the 27-year-old re-emerged in the second half with flair in his step, and it eventually paid off. He curled an effort so beautifully around the defense and Bounou that it felt like everyone on the field paused mid-step to appreciate its perfection.

Ousmane Dembélé added a second for good measure minutes later , but this contest was all about Mbappé, who now sits on eight goals alongside Messi in the Golden Boot race. We’re running out of superlatives to describe the brilliance of the Madrid man, so simply: Merci, Kylian. Merci beaucoup.

After shattering the hearts of the USMNT with a sledgehammer, and then stomping on them for good measure, Belgium will look to end Spain’s dream of winning a second consecutive major tournament following its EURO 2024 victory. The stage is now set for Lamine Yamal and Spain to show just why they’re dubbed favorites, with the winner meeting Belgium on Tuesday in the semifinals.

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What We’re Watching

There’s only one game today! Clear your schedule. It’s on Telemundo and Peacock , and the time listed is Eastern:

That’s it for now! We’ll be back Monday.