{"id":790569,"date":"2026-07-10T03:39:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T03:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/790569\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T03:39:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T03:39:10","slug":"didier-deschamps-hails-exemplary-kylian-mbappe-as-france-reach-world-cup-semi-finals-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/790569\/","title":{"rendered":"Didier Deschamps hails \u2018exemplary\u2019 Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 as France reach World Cup semi-finals | World Cup 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Didier Deschamps saluted the mentality of his players after France beat Morocco 2-0<\/a> in Thursday\u2019s World Cup quarter-final. \u201cThat\u2019s three semi-finals in a row,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s already good. But even though it seems logical and natural for us to be here you still have to achieve it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is there a secret? \u201cMy credit goes to the players but maybe I do my job well,\u201d Deschamps said. \u201cThis is a human venture we are sharing. The only truth is the one on the pitch but the human aspect is extremely important. It\u2019s not copy and paste. It\u2019s never the same situation or conditions. The most important thing in my life has always been the jersey and it\u2019s good to see this group feel the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although France<\/a> dominated from the start, they missed a number of chances and seemed to be growing frustrated when Kylian Mbapp\u00e9, who had missed a first-half penalty, scored a remarkable opener. Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 put the game beyond doubt six minutes later. \u201cIt was tough today with the penalty, all the chances we didn\u2019t take,\u201d said Deschamps. \u201cBut when it\u2019s Kylian, there\u2019s no problem, he never hesitates \u2013 even though he\u2019d already missed a chance. Many people say that Kylian is a dictator, that he only thinks of himself. But he\u2019s the captain and he\u2019s exemplary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mbapp\u00e9 was taken off with 13 minutes remaining after feeling some \u201cdiscomfort\u201d in his ankle, but he is not expected to be a doubt for the semi-final. The midfielder Manu Kon\u00e9 was also withdraw because of \u201ca blow to the knee\u201d and \u201csome cramps\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mohamed Ouahbi had no illusions about the gulf between his side and France. \u201cThey ended up being in a comfort zone,\u201d said the Morocco coach. \u201cI wanted to make some substitutions even in the first half but I decided to do it later. We had more control early in the second half and we would have liked to have seen how France would have reacted if they hadn\u2019t scored.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we have to recognise that they\u2019re a great team. They have excellent players. They have very talented forwards \u2013 and they run. They don\u2019t get frustrated and they want to go all the way. They have had great team for a long time. They\u2019ve been in the last two World Cup<\/a> finals. They have a lot of talent and players who make the effort on the pitch. They are a very solid team who are very attuned to playing in transition.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Ouahbi had said before the game that Morocco couldn\u2019t simply be happy to be in the last eight, even though they are the first African side to reach two quarter-finals. But he urged a restrained response. \u201cLet\u2019s not panic,\u201d he said. \u201cLet\u2019s see what we can improve and move forward. We have a good group of young players. We have a good federation. We have a king who invests a lot which is why we are here. Maybe we can beat them at the World Cup in four years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Didier Deschamps saluted the mentality of his players after France beat Morocco 2-0 in Thursday\u2019s World Cup quarter-final.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":790570,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-790569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=790569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/790570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=790569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=790569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=790569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}