Deschamps hails Mbappe after superstar fires France into semis

Fri, 10 Jul, 2026

Deschamps hails Mbappe after superstar fires France into semis

Foxborough: France head coach Didier Deschamps paid tribute to forward Kylian Mbappe after he scored his eighth goal of the FIFA World Cup 2026 to fire Les Bleus into the semi-finals on Thursday with a 2-0 victory over Morocco.

Mbappe opened the scoring on the hour mark at the Boston Stadium having earlier had a penalty saved. Ousmane Dembele then completed the job as France reached the last four of a FIFA World Cup for the third tournament in a row.

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Ouahbi vows Morocco will come back stronger

Fri, 10 Jul, 2026

Ouahbi vows Morocco will come back stronger

Foxborough: Morocco head coach Mohamed Ouahbi promised that his team will bounce back from their FIFA World Cup 2026 quarter-final exit against France on Thursday and keep building as they prepare to co-host the next tournament in 2030.

The Atlas Lions were hoping to at least match their historic run to the semi-finals in Qatar in 2022, but once again their FIFA World Cup hopes were ended by Les Bleus.

The 2-0 defeat at the Boston Stadium was a repeat of the scoreline when the sides met in the semis four years ago, and Morocco must now turn their attentions towards future challenges after a draining last seven months.

Q-final: France 2-0 Morocco

Fri, 10 Jul, 2026

Q-final: France 2-0 Morocco

Foxborough: Kylian Mbappe recovered from having a first-half penalty saved to score a magnificent opener that set France on their way to a 2-0 win over Morocco in their FIFA World Cup 2026 quarter-final showdown on Thursday.

Mbappe's weak spot-kick was easily saved by Moroccan goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, but he made up for that by producing a brilliant curling finish to make it 1-0 on the hour mark.

That was Mbappe's eighth goal at the tournament, moving him level again with Lionel Messi in the race for the Golden Boot, before he came off late on and watched the final minutes with an ice pack around his right ankle.

England's Quansah handed two-game ban

Fri, 10 Jul, 2026

England's Quansah handed two-game ban

Miami: England defender Jarell Quansah will miss Saturday's FIFA World Cup 2026 quarter-final against Norway, and the last four should the Three Lions progress, after being handed a two-game ban by FIFA.

Quansah was shown a straight red card against Mexico in the last 16, but only after a VAR review.

US star Pulisic fractured leg in Belgium loss: team

Fri, 10 Jul, 2026

US star Pulisic fractured leg in Belgium loss: team

Los Angeles: Star forward Christian Pulisic fractured his leg during the United States' 4-1 FIFA World Cup 2026 loss to Belgium, the team said on Thursday.

Pulisic appeared to suffer the injury early in the second half of Monday's game as he attempted a shot but instead kicked the back of Belgian midfielder Youri Tieleman's leg.

The US team's talisman attacker attempted to play through the injury but was substituted several minutes later, soon after the co-hosts went 3-1 down.

Preview - Q-final: Spain v Belgium

Thu, 09 Jul, 2026

Preview - Q-final: Spain v Belgium

Inglewood: Belgium meet Spain in the FIFA World Cup 2026 quarter-finals on Friday with the daunting task of breaching the European champions' watertight defence for the first time at the tournament.

In beating Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal 1-0 on Monday, Luis de la Fuente's men became the first team in history to record six consecutive FIFA World Cup clean sheets.

Spain have not shown the attacking flair of France but they are playing the careful, possession-based football that took them to glory in South Africa in 2010.