Mbappe overcomes penalty miss to fire France past Morocco into World Cup semi-finals

Kylian Mbappe missed a penalty, then scored a stunning second-half goal to send France into the World Cup semi-finals with a 2-0 victory over Morocco in Boston. The Real Madrid star, 27, saw his spot-kick saved by Yassine Bounou after three minutes of VAR delay, but curled a superb strike past the goalkeeper from the left edge of the box to break the deadlock. Six minutes later, Ousmane Dembele doubled France's lead with a low effort that slipped through Bounou's fingers, ending Morocco's hopes. Mbappe's goal was his eighth of the tournament, moving him level with Argentina's Lionel Messi as top scorer, but the Frenchman leads the Golden Boot race on assists. Dembele now has five goals, making France only the second side in 50 years to have two players score five or more at the same World Cup, after Brazil in 2002. "France are the best, most skilful, most dangerous attacking team in the tournament," said former Scotland striker Pat Nevin on BBC Radio 5 Live. "They have more than one threat. They have two, three, four that are capable." Manager Didier Deschamps, in his final tournament after 14 years in charge, withdrew Mbappe as a precaution after the forward took a couple of blows. France's 15th and 16th goals of the tournament are more than any other team, though three quarter-finals remain. They will face either Spain or Belgium in the last four. Speaking on ITV Sport, former midfielder Patrick Vieira, who played in France's 1998 World Cup final win, said: "We're talking about a generation of players... it is maybe one of the best, because you have so many players - it is so unbelievable." If France lift the trophy on 19 July, they can justify the claim that this is the best Les Bleus ever. Morocco, missing injured star Ismael Saibari, rarely threatened and were eliminated by France for the second consecutive World Cup after a 2-0 loss.