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Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé starred in one of the most striking statistical moments of the by tying, with France's victory over Morocco, a combined scoring record that had not been matched in a World Cup in 24 years.
On Thursday, France defeated Morocco 2-0 in the quarterfinals held at Gillette Stadium in Boston, with goals from Mbappé in the 60th minute and Dembélé in the 66th, becoming the first semifinalist of the tournament.
With those notes, the Real Madrid forward reached eight goals in the tournament, and the PSG winger achieved five, accumulating a total of 13 goals between them in a single World Cup edition.
The last duo of teammates to reach that combined figure was Ronaldo Nazário (eight goals, Golden Boot) and Rivaldo (five goals) in Korea/Japan 2002, a tournament in which Brazil won its fifth World Cup title.
In that edition, Ronaldo sealed his legend with a brace in the final against Germany, while Rivaldo completed an offensive partnership that, along with Ronaldinho, contributed 16 of the 18 total goals for the Brazilian team in the tournament.
Mbappé beat goalkeeper Yassine Bounou to score his eighth goal of the championship, while Dembélé took advantage of a distraction caused by his captain to net the second.
The goal against Morocco raised Mbappé's all-time record in World Cups to 20 goals in just three tournaments (2018, 2022, and 2026), making him the second highest scorer in World Cup history, just one behind Lionel Messi's record (21 goals in six editions).
Dembélé, for his part, reached five goals in the tournament after an explosive start that included a hat-trick in 25 minutes against Norway on June 26, scoring three times in the seventh, twentieth, and thirty-second minutes.
France has won all five of its matches in the 2026 World Cup and is seeking to reach its third consecutive final: it was the champion in 2018 against Croatia and the runner-up in 2022 against Argentina.
The next obstacle for the Gallic team will be Spain, which this Friday eliminated Belgium 2-1 at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles and qualified for the World Cup semifinals.
The match between France and Spain in the semifinals is scheduled for July 14 at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, where Mbappé and Dembélé will have the opportunity to surpass the legacy of Ronaldo and Rivaldo and write their own chapter in World Cup history. You can follow all the tournament details in the .
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