By Karolos Grohmann
FOXBOROUGH, MA, July 9 (Reuters) - France captain Kylian Mbappe missed a penalty but curled in a superb goal on the hour as France struck twice in six minutes to brush aside Morocco 2-0 on Thursday and book their spot in the World Cup semi-finals.
Mbappe, who at 27 became the youngest player to rack up 20 World Cup appearances, also bagged his 20th World Cup goal with a curling shot from just inside the box before Ousmane Dembele added another six minutes later with a low drive
to set up a last-four meeting with Belgium or Spain.
Mbappe is the tournament's joint top scorer with eight goals, level with Lionel Messi, and he trails the Argentine by one goal in the World Cup all-time scoring list.
In a repeat of the 2022 World Cup semi-final, France looked the hungrier side throughout, with Morocco, aiming for a second straight last-four spot, badly missing injured striker Ismael Saibari and failing to get a shot on target until the 84th minute.
The French, bidding to become only the third nation to reach three consecutive World Cup finals, started strongly with a couple of early chances.
MBAPPE EQUALS LLORIS RECORD
Mbappe, who also equalled the all-time French record held by Hugo Lloris for World Cup matches, had an early opportunity with a low drive that Morocco keeper Yassine Bounou managed to tip wide.
Both teams were initially cautious of not making an error that could end up costing them in a high-stakes match.
But France earned a 28th-minute penalty through Mbappe but Bounou calmly stood his ground, picked the correct side and smothered the France forward's low effort. It was Mbappe's first penalty miss for the national team since Euro 2020.
The title favourites also hit the crossbar in first-half stoppage time through Lucas Digne's powerful 30-metre drive, while Morocco struggled to reach their opponents' box and did not have an effort on or off target in the first half.
Mbappe made amends for his miss on the hour mark with a quick look up and superb finish and before Morocco had time to recover they struck again through Dembele.
The forward, who forms a formidable frontline with Mbappe and Michael Olise, made use of the space opened up by Mbappe's run to rifle in their second goal and his fifth of the tournament.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Ed Osmond)
