World Cup 2026 quarter-final – live

Kylian Mbappé now leads the race for the Golden Boot … albeit only on assists, and having played one game more than his closest challengers, Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland and Harry Kane. Mbappé’s team-mate Ousmane Dembélé won’t have stopped dreaming of the shiniest shoe just yet, either.

Post-match postbag. “Morocco seem to be saving themselves for the second leg” – Niall Mullen

“Morocco world ranking seven? On this insipid performance they are not even in Africa’s top 10. What a way to approach the game: compare and contrast how great they were in the semi against France last time out” – Russell Brady

“Moroccans seemingly gave up after Mbappe scored. Whimper-ish performance from them to be honest” – Farhan

“If you can only muster up an xG of 0.06 by the hour mark of a QF, you only have yourselves to blame. Morocco going down without even a dab of quality today. Shame” – Somto-Gabriel Raphael

“In my very, very amateur experience of playing sports, I would sometimes face a team that was just much, much better than mine. It never felt bad to lose against a side like that, because they were simply playing the game at another level. The thing is, that’s normal for amateurs, but bizarre to see in a match between two high-class national sides” – Kári Tulinius

 

 

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“Butterier than a croissant, more deadly than the guillotine. Some team, France” – James Humphries

Didier Deschamps smiles broadly. He’s still on track to sign off as a world champion. His team weren’t at their best today, but they didn’t need to be against a strangely subdued Morocco – who, let’s be honest, didn’t turn up - and the class of Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé proved the difference. Mbappé left the field with a sore ankle, and sat on the bench with an icepack on it, but while there’ll no doubt be a standalone rolling news channel set up in France to deal with updates on that, it should be pointed out that he’s just dumped the ice and pulled on his boot so he can go and celebrate with his pals. He doesn’t look in any discomfort as he grins and hugs his way through the squad. Can anyone stop France? It’ll be the turn of either Spain or Belgium to try next.

The tournament favourites are the first team in the semi-finals! They’ll play Spain or Belgium in Arlington next Tuesday.

90 min +5: Yassine tries to beat Maignon from near the halfway line. It’s not a bad effort, but over the bar nonetheless.

90 min +4: Dembele wanders down the right and rolls infield for Mateta, who dummies his way into space on the penalty spot … only to scuff a shot intended for the bottom right. Bounou kicks clear.

90 min +2: Ounahi probes down the left and crosses. Digne slices behind for a corner. France clear the set piece easily enough.

76 min: Mbappe goes down. On come the physios. A worrying moment for France.

90 min: There will be six additional minutes.

89 min: Mbappe is pictured in the dugout with an icepack on his right ankle. That’ll be from the challenge by Diop on 63 minutes. It wasn’t the best; it could have been more than a booking.

88 min: The resulting corner is swung into the mixer. Mateta wins a header but powers the ball over the bar. It should have been three.

87 min: Gusto comes on for Kounde. Then Barcola skedaddles down the left and looks for the bottom-left corner. Bounou turns around the post.

86 min: Olise, with time and space just inside the Morocco box on the right, tries a curler into the top left. The ball sails gently into the stand.

85 min: That couple of minutes of pressure was the most dangerous Morocco have looked all night. Perhaps they should have moved through the gears earlier. Their last throw of the dice, as Sbai comes on for Talbi.

84 min: Hakimi curls tantalisingly towards the near post. El Aynaoui meets the ball and flashes a header into the side netting. Half the stadium thinks it’s in. The roar quickly subsides.

83 min: The free kick’s half cleared, but then Rabiot skittles Ounahi, 30 yards out. That set piece is worked to Ounahi, who pearls a shot towards the bottom left from distance. Maignan turns around the post. Corner.

82 min: Yassine crosses from the right. Upamecano, who has a mistake in him, stoops to make an uncomfortable hash of a clearing header. The play is switched to the left, where El Ouahdi draws a foul from Kounde. Free kick in a dangerous position, near the corner flag.

80 min: Barcola combines at speed with Olise down the left before sending a low cross-cum-shot through the Moroccan six-yard box. It’s deflected behind for a corner, from which nothing comes. But the clock ticks on, and it’s France’s friend right now.

78 min: … meanwhile Barcola replaces Doue on the left. “As a Dutchwoman it has to be said that our loss to the Moroccans is becoming increasingly embarrassing,” writes Julia Boot. “Where is the supposed brilliant attacking flair that knocked out the great Oranje? I haven’t seen it so far.”

77 min: Mbappe gets up quickly enough, and doesn’t look in too much discomfort as he wanders off. A smile and a Pele-style double-wave to all four corners of the stadium. He’s replaced by Mateta in what is almost certainly a precautionary, no-risk move.

71 min: The game restarts, with France having replaced Kone with Zaire-Emery, making his first appearance at this World Cup.

74 min: Morocco make a double change, replacing Salah-Eddine and the strangely underwhelming Diaz with El Ouahdi and Yassine.

73 min: Talbi sweeps a cross in from the left. Upamecano slashes wildly at the ball, and slices it behind himself and over the bar. He had no idea what he was doing there. Thankfully for him and France, nothing comes of the corner.

72 min: Morocco stroke it around patiently as France sit back and hold their shape. “The Moroccan approach here is totally baffling,” begins Peter Crosby. “The first half they had zero ambition, and watching them sauntering out for the second half it just looked like they don’t want to be here. In a World Cup quarter final. Bizarre.”

70 min: “As much as I disliked watching Paraguay, it seems to me that their strategy might be the only possible way of stopping this juggernaut,” suggests Steven Grundy. “France look inevitable.”

Dembele is allowed to advance a long way down the middle of the park. Nobody closes him down. Dembele finally pulls the trigger, threading a low drive into the bottom right from the edge of the D. Bounou gets a hand to it, but can’t keep it out. A quick-fire double whammy that may well have decided this quarter-final.

68 min … and that’s drinks. Morocco’s turn this half / third quarter, and they come through with some mint green tea and zaalouk, an aubergine and tomato dip. Some choices more isotonic than others.

67 min: Mbappe made some extra time and space for Dembele there, with a dummy run. Bounou won’t be happy with his attempted save, though: the shot wasn’t tucked tight into the corner, and he got a proper hand to it.

You can’t keep a good man down! Mbappe picks up possession on the left-hand corner of the box. He takes a touch infield and whip-cracks a curler around Diop and into the right-hand portion of the net. Bounou was fully extended, but couldn’t reach the ball. What a finish!

64 min: That goal now puts Mbappe on top of the Golden Boot table, assists giving him the edge over Lionel Messi. “Not content with merely chasing Messi’s goal record, Mbappé has now gone and done the Messi double of missing a penalty and then scoring in a single match,” notes Kári Tulinius.

63 min: Mbappe prepares to spin clear of Diop and is unceremoniously chopped down by the defender. Diop is booked and will miss the semi-final should Morocco get through.

62 min: Morocco respond to falling behind by making a double change. Amrabat and Rahimi come on for El Khannouss and the disappointing Bouaddi.

61 min: Morocco claim a handball earlier in the move … but VAR has a check and the goal stands.

59 min: According to our old friend xG, France are bang on two goals exactly, while Morocco are stuck on 0.06.

58 min: Now it’s Doue feeding Mbappe down the left. Mbappe wedges a cross over the goalposts and harmlessly out for a corner. “Not familiar with Hamish Balfour?” splutters Ian Copestake. “Are you telling me some readers are actually under 55?”

56 min: Olise spins and bursts past a couple of challenges down the inside-left channel, leaving Bouaddi for dead. Olise slips the ball to Mbappe, who is clear in the box. Mbappe leans back and skies his shot over the bar. Terrible miss, though he’d have been flagged for offside had it gone in.

55 min: Doue zips in from the left and sends a low drive goalwards. It’s straight at Bounou, though the keeper makes a meal of gathering, almost diving past the ball, then nearly dropping it. But he manages to complete his task in the end.

54 min: Talbi turns on the jets and attempts to speed past Upamecano on the left touchline. He can’t quite manage it. A throw, which is worked all the way back to his defenders. Tension is trumping talent at the moment.

52 min: Talbi wins a corner down the left. Hakimi and Ounahi act out a short one, and balls it up. This game is just not happening right now.

51 min: It’s all a bit scrappy. France might be approaching the stage of irritability.

49 min: Olise has the opportunity to release Rabiot into the Morocco box down the left, but Diop reads the danger and cuts out the pass just in time.

47 min: Ounahi drives down the middle of the park, set on his way by El Khannouss’s cute reverse pass. He finds Diaz to his right. France are light at the back, but Diaz hesitates, caught between the idea of shooting and crossing. Mucho mistrust in his own ability. Eventually he does the latter, by which time Kounde is back and clears.

Almost a total non-event, other than Mbappe’s penalty miss. Morocco will be far the happier.

Morocco keep France waiting a while, but eventually turn up for the second half. In the meantime, Heart of Glass thumps out of the PA system, which is a pleasing distraction. France eventually get the second half started.

Half-time postbag. “This game is pretty tedious, it makes Colombia v Switzerland seem exciting” – Richard, California

“I am seriously considering going back to bed after setting the alarm for 3:50 am. I don’t think I can bear another 45 plus minutes of this. Even the two cups of coffee haven’t worked” – Alexandra Fullerton

“Three-minute hydration break. Three-minute VAR check. Five minutes added time. Yup. Makes sense” – Espen B

“Liberté, Égalité, Frustré” – Charles Antaki

“I think I’m going to describe Morocco as doughty. If they ever meet England, I’d be worried that the ball would never cross the halfway line: it would simply circulate among the defenders for an entire half” – Joe Johnson

“So far the French are not doing as well as Canada in pressing the Moroccans. According to arrogant English commentators, they were just playing cat and mouse with us in the first half. Can we expect them to see off France in the second half?” – Ric Arthur

“I feel it’s safe to say that Hot Shot Hamish would not have been a fan of the tippy toes approach to penalty taking. Pick your spot and put your laces through it, man. And even if the keeper guesses right, he’ll end up in the net too” – Simon McMahon

For those of you not familiar with the antics of Hamish Balfour, his Daddie and pet sheep McMutton, here is a primer …

45 min +5: … and in trying to catch Maignan out at the near post, Hakimi whips wide right. Nowhere near. That kind of sums this first half up.

45 min +4: Diaz crosses from the right. Rabiot sticks out an arm to stop it. A free kick just outside the box. Hakimi to take.

45 min +3: Dembele dribbles in from the right, tries a little trick … and there’s no way past Salah-Eddine. A perfectly timed challenge, and a brave one given it was inside the Moroccan box.

45 min +2: Digne sends a swerving, rising then dipping shot towards the top-left corner. The ball floats over Bounou, and pings off the top of the crossbar. Did the keeper get a little touch with the tips of his fingers? Not sure. France aren’t getting a corner, anyway.

45 min +1: Kone has a speculative whack from 25 yards out on the right. Straight into the nearest defender.

45 min: There will be five additional first-half minutes.

44 min: Kone robs Bouaddi, who so far has been showing a bit of inexperience this evening. He probes down the left … then Kounde advances down the right … but it’s all to little effect. Eventually the ball rolls out for a goal kick, and this half of football is petering out. If indeed it ever really got going.

36 min: Doue strips the snoozing Bouaddi of the ball, and races towards the Morocco box. He aims for the bottom left, and Bounou is forced to tip the forensic shot around the post. Olise sends the corner in, but Kounde’s header has no power. Bounou gathers.

42 min: Morocco are pressing higher up the pitch now, though France are yet to ship possession in a position problematic to them. Nothing much has happened since the penalty miss / hydration break momentum-jiggering combo.

40 min: Diaz buzzes around the French box but to little effect. Maignan has had the square root of bugger all to do.

38 min: The penalty aside, this game has kind of drifted by. “Was Mbappé waiting all that time because the US channels went to an ad break?” wonders Patrick McCarthy. “Surely it’s not come to this? What other reason could there have been?”

34 min: “The Spanish commentary team was suggesting that Mbappe was already falling over before the contact was made, hence the VAR check,” reports Casiano Martinez.

32 min: The game restarts and Dembele tries a curler from the right. It’s wide, but not by a great distance. Had that been on target, Bounou wasn’t getting to it.

28 min: Mbappe is kept waiting as the referee faffs over minutiae … then he’s told to re-spot the ball. Finally, three minutes and ten seconds after the penalty was awarded, Mbappe stutters his run and duffs a dismal effort towards the bottom right. Nowhere near the corner, no power, and that’s easy for Bounou. Mbappe never looked confident over that!

31 min: That was an abysmal penalty by Mbappe. He gets sympathy for being kept waiting for a ludicrous amount of time … but none for the tippy-toes run-up. He looked unsure of himself, so why get clever? Ray Stewart has notes.

29 min: … and that’s drinks. France take care of first-quarter duties, and offer some beer, wine and traditional pastis liqueur, which to varying degrees help wash down some mini croque monsieurs.

25 min: Doue snaffles possession, a heavy touch by Hakimi as Morocco probe the France box. Suddenly France are tearing away on the counter, Morocco having committed too many men forward. Mbappe is sent slaloming down the left. He enters the box and drops a shoulder to get past Mazraoui, who slides in clumsily and upends his man. The referee points to the spot.

27 min: A bit of faff for a VAR check … goodness knows what of … then an interminable wait as Mbappe is told to hold off taking the kick.

23 min: Mbappe sprays a ball wide right for Dembele. Salah-Eddine should cut it out, but lets it roll under his foot. Dembele makes off down the flank, but Salah-Eddine does extremely well to recover his poise and steal the ball back. That was a necessary challenge, because without it, Dembele was away.

21 min: … Rabiot heads lamely over the bar from eight yards. He should have done better.

20 min: Olise slips Kounde into space down the right, and a corner is won. From which …

18 min: Doue crosses from the left. Dembele, rising highest on the right-hand corner of the six-yard box, loops a harmless header wide left and high. That move was started by a lovely little shimmy and shake from Olise, smoothly cutting in from the right before switching play. So easy on the eye.

16 min: Hakimi sends a dreadful free kick miles over everyone’s head and out of play. Local hero Adam Vinatieri would have been proud of that one.

15 min: Bounou is very nearly closed down by the onrushing Dembele, but shifts his feet just in time before clearing. The crowd enjoyed that. Morocco counter, and Ounahi wins a free kick out on the right, drawing a lazy leg from Digne. Morocco load the box as Hakimi prepares to deliver.

13 min: Tell you what, not sure Kone got too much of the ball there. It should have been a free kick to Morocco, 30 yards out. There were covering defenders.

12 min: France probe patiently, but then Saliba slaps a poor pass straight at Diaz, who scuttles away on the counter. He’s eventually stopped in his tracks by Kone. Saliba owes his mate one there, because had Kone not got a foot in, France were in serious trouble.

5 min: Mbappe takes a speculative whack at goal from distance. Bounou isn’t taking any chances and tips around the post. The corner comes in from the left, and Upamecano meets it, though he’s mistimed his jump a little, and in falling backwards, only sends a weak header straight at the keeper. Bounou still needs to make the save, though, and does with a strong hand.

10 min: Kone wins the ball 25 yards out and feeds Mbappe, who considers shooting but lays off to Doue instead. Doue takes a whack, but it’s blocked at source. France definitely on top during the opening exchanges.

8 min: Doue dribbles hard down the left but just as he looks like entering the box, Bouaddi – who today becomes the second-youngest player to feature in a WOrld Cup quarter-final behind Pele – toes the ball away.

7 min: Morocco calm things down a bit with some sterile domination, passing it back, forth and around the defence.

Morocco get the ball rolling. More specifically: they launch it. Anticipation crackles around Boston Stadium, Foxborough, Massachusetts, home of the NFL’s New England Patriots and the New England Revolution of the MLS.

3 min: A lot of France possession during the early moments. Quite a bit of whistling as they attempt to establish a bit of order. “La Marseillaise sounded especially jaunty tonight,” notes Charles Antaki. “A different recording? I doubt if they have a band hidden away somewhere, though given the usual theatricals at US sporting events there may be a marching band doing the business somewhere in the bowels of the stadium.”

2 min: It’s 32 degrees in Massachusetts. Positively British. “On ITV during a discussion about players representing countries they weren’t born in Mark Pougatch just said ‘the world is a global entity now’,” reports Jon Collin. “I thought too hard about that sentence and might have to sit this one out. May the best entity win!”

The teams are out! Morocco wear their first-choice red, so France sport their change kit of mint green. We’ll be off once the national anthems are sung. Morocco’s speaks of “heading for grandeur” and its proud melody takes them there. It was composed during the final years of the French protectorate … speaking of which, there’s this banger …

Pre-match postbag. “So will Morocco allow France the time and space to show off their tuxedos or will they force them back into the sweat-soaked (and somewhat bloodied) overalls that Paraguay made them wear in Philadelphia? I think the French are in for a long shift this evening, and probably penalties” – Justin Kavanagh

“Best World Cup: nine African teams and three Concacaf in the knockouts. Unprecedented!

Worst World Cup: six Europeans in the last eight. Boring!!!

Best World Cup?: four teams in last four that have never won (Norway, Morocco, Switzerland, Belgium).

Worst World Cup?: nothing new to see here, four past champions in the last four.

Here’s hoping for the best.” – Dominic O’Donnell

“In hindsight, that wonderful thing, Scotland probably played their best match of the tournament against Morocco, and were slightly unlucky in the end not to get the point that would have seen them qualify for the knockouts. And then who knows what might have happened? Actually, I think we all do, a last 32 defeat by Mexico or some other team, that’s what. But you get my drift, right? A little bit of reflected glory is always good. Remember McFadden in Paris? And it’s not that long ago since we beat Spain and Norway in Euro qualifying, and thrashed England 0-0 at Wembley. So we know who the real winners are on July 19” – Simon McMahon

Time to view this World Cup through a different lens. Our picture editor Jonny Weeks has adapted some of his favourite photos using an alternative process called slit-scanning, which produces some astonishing results … and has a longer and more varied history in sports photography than you might assume.

Morocco make two changes to their starting line-up from the win over Canada. Anass Salah-Eddine replaces Redouane Halhal in defence, while midfielder Chemsdine Talbi takes the place of stricken striker Ismael Saibari. Brahim Diaz will likely play as a lone forward in Saibari’s absence.

France have long demonstrated the benefits of diversity at the World Cup. Now Morocco are reaping similar rewards, with six members of Morocco’s squad – Ayyoub Bouaddi, Issa Diop, Neil El Aynaoui, Samir El Mourabet, Gessime Yassine and Redouane Halhal – born in France. This piece from the Guardian Sport Network, on how today’s quarter-final sums up the multicultural nature of the tournament, deserves your time and your love.

The pre-match press conferences. Didier Deschamps plays down the identity of tonight’s referee, with officialdom having been front and centre this week, while giving his opponents their flowers: “This Morocco is of very high quality.” His opposite number Mohamed Ouahbi meanwhile insists his team are here to win the whole thing.

France make one change to their starting XI following the battle with Paraguay. Désiré Doué replaces his PSG team-mate Bradley Barcola on the left flank.

France: Maignan, Kounde, Upamecano, Saliba, Digne, Kone, Rabiot, Dembele, Olise, Doue, Mbappe.

Subs: Samba, Gusto, Tchouameni, Thuram, Kante, Konate, Zaire Emery, Theo Hernandez, Lucas Hernandez, Mateta, Risser, Cherki, Akliouche, Lacroix, Barcola.

Morocco: Bounou, Hakimi, Diop, Mazraoui, Saleh-Eddine, Bouaddi, El Aynaoui, Diaz, Ounahi, Talbi, El Khannous.

Subs: Mohamedi, Tagnaouti, Amrabat, Saadane, Saibari, El Ouahdi, El Mourabet, Yassine, Sbai, Belammari, El Kaabi, Amaimouni-Echghouyab, Halhal, Riad, Rahimi.

Referee: Facundo Tello Figueroa (Argentina).

Morocco have played France on six previous occasions, and have never beaten them. Two draws, four defeats, six goals scored, 14 conceded. But one of those draws was against the France of Zinedine Zidane, Laurent Blanc, Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry et al, a couple of months before les Bleus prevailed in the 1998 World Cup final … and after sharing four goals, Morocco won a penalty shoot-out. Slim pickings, then, but at least it’s not nothing at all. And there’s always a first time.

Morocco were the stand-out team of Group C. They didn’t win it, because they failed to put Brazil away, but it only took 70 seconds to see off Scotland and while they risked embarrassment against Haiti, they eventually overpowered the underdogs 4-2.

In the knockouts, they were taken to the brink by the Netherlands, then took 45 minutes to warm up against Canada before swatting the co-hosts aside and out of their own tournament. And now we are here.

It’s a rerun of the 2022 semi-final. France were expected to make easy work of Morocco four years ago in Qatar, but the Atlas Lions gave them a good run for their money …

… and since then, Morocco have since become champions of Africa, caveats aside, and the sixth best team in the rankings. They’re the real deal, and while France are once again tipped to emerge victorious this evening, it’s no longer with the assumptions of old. France have ambitions to win this title, but so do Morocco, who in addition are also after revenge. This, then, is set up deliciously. Kick off is at 4pm in Boston (9pm BST/6am AEST). It’s on!

France swanned their way through Group I. They elegantly survived the Senegal test. Took a two-hour storm break in their stride to see off Iraq. Then eased past Norway B thanks to Ousmane Dembélé’s quick-fire first-half hat-trick.

Then in the knockouts, things went from the sublime to the ridiculous. And here we are.

… and so to the business end of this World Cup. But let’s start this story from the very beginning.