2026 World Cup: Morocco falls to France and stops in the quarterfinals

Bounou alone against everyone

The Moroccan goalkeeper was quickly into his game, facing the offensive armada of Les Bleus. In short, Yassine Bounou was all alone against the world vice-champions in the first half. And they started testing him as early as the 2^nd minute of play with a sudden long-range shot from Kylian Mbappé, which the 35-year-old keeper pushed out for a corner.

Two minutes later, France created another dangerous chance with a downward header by Dayot Upamecano, again stopped at close range by Bounou, who seemed to have magnetized gloves. After these first five heated minutes, Morocco regained control of possession, but never managed to be incisive or dangerous offensively.

This costly delay allowed France to put them under pressure and then force a mistake with a poorly controlled tackle from Noussair Mazraoui, who fouled Kylian Mbappé in the box. The Manchester United defender thought he had committed the irreparable, but Yassine Bounou stepped up to authoritatively stop the French captain's penalty (25^th).

All by himself, the Al-Hilal goalkeeper kept his team afloat, once again answering with a firm hand to a powerful shot from Désiré Doué (35^th) before being saved by the crossbar on a floating effort from Lucas Digne in stoppage time (45+2). Five decisive saves to rescue a disappointing first half for the Atlas Lions, who did not get a single shot on target in the 45 minutes.

A team split in two and a dream flying away

Morocco's second half was managed even worse than the first. After being abandoned by his teammates, Yassine Bounou eventually gave in to the French waves. And it was at the hour mark, after a marking error on Mbappé, that the punishment came for the Atlas Lions with a beautiful curled shot from the France number 10.

After scoring, Kylian Mbappé turned provider six minutes later, just as Morocco's tactical structure completely fell apart, with a team split in two and an exposed midfield. The Madrid player, who drifted wide, set up Ousmane Dembélé, who then cut inside for the second goal, with a shot from outside the box, too powerful for Bounou, even though he managed to get a touch on it (66th).

Morocco became fragile and lacked composure in the last quarter-hour. But they still managed to create two chances, without converting, with a free kick from Azzedine Ounahi pushed away by Mike Maignan (83rd) and then a header from Neil El Aynaoui that missed the target (84th).

Yassine Bounou postponed the 3-0 scoreline in the 87th minute by deflecting a shot at the near post from Braldey Barcola out for a corner. But it was not enough to bring Morocco back into the match. The Atlas Lions thus bow out in the quarter-finals and see their dream of reaching a second consecutive semifinal slip away.