France beat Morocco 2-0 at the 2026 World Cup, with Kylian Mbappe once again leading his side through to the next stage. The match carried extra weight given Morocco's vocal ambition to reach the tournament's later rounds and their stated hope of hosting the 2030 final, but France's superior technical quality proved decisive on the night.

Mbappe was central to the result, scoring the first of two goals struck within six minutes and providing the assist for Ousmane Dembele's strike, despite having earlier missed a first-half penalty following a delay of more than three minutes. Ian Herbert's piece frames Mbappe as France's outstanding leader while arguing that two other France players will need to perform if the side is to overcome Spain's formidable defence in a prospective later meeting. The build-up was also disrupted when ITV was forced to abandon its World Cup studio as storms hit New York.