The 2026 FIFA World Cup continued on Thursday with the opening of the quarterfinal round.
Four matchups — France versus Morocco, Spain versus Belgium, England versus Norway and Argentina versus Switzerland — make up this round of the tournament. By chance, each matchup features one team that has won the World Cup previously and one team that has never pulled off the feat.
The round began with France taking on Morocco on a sweltering day in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Here are the key stories from that match — and from the rest of the World Cup universe:
France’s patience paid off against a stubborn Morocco side
It wasn’t always easy and it certainly wasn’t always pretty, but France held its nerve to pull off a 2-0 win over Morocco under the hot Massachusetts sun. The win secures France a spot in the World Cup semifinals, where it will face one of Spain or Belgium. This will be France’s eighth appearance in the semifinals overall and its third straight appearance since its championship run in 2018.
The game was notable for several reasons: It extended coach Didier Deschamps’ record as the winningest coach in World Cup history, it gave attacker Kylian Mbappé the opportunity to notch up another goal and assist in his quest for the Golden Boot and it secured Morocco a spot in history as the first African team to make back-to-back late-stage World Cup knockout appearances.
But the match was also notable for its familial nature. Six Moroccan players — Ayyoub Bouaddi, Issa Diop, Samir El Mourabet, Gessime Yassine, Neil El Aynaoui and Redouane Halhal — were born in France, and 13 players across both teams hail from club teams in France. These two sets of players know each other very, very well, and that showed. The match felt much like an intense but good-natured squabble among siblings.
Both teams played well, but Mbappé’s class wound up making the difference. His inch-perfect goal in the 60th minute and thoughtful long-distance assist in the 66th sealed the match in France’s favor. He now leads the tournament Golden Boot standings with eight goals and three assists to his name.