For a while at Gillette Stadium, it looked as though this World Cup quarterfinal might belong to the wrong story. Kylian Mbappé, the man France lean on when the stakes climb highest, had planted his penalty into the arms of Yassine Bounou, and the ground held its breath waiting to see whether that miss would define an afternoon. It did not. Instead it became the prologue to his redemption.

France won 2-0, but the numbers flatten the tension out of it. This was a contest that swayed and simmered for an hour before the favourites found the ruthlessness their reputation demands. Morocco, defiant and organised, made them wait, made them sweat, and made them earn every yard of the last four.

When the release finally came, it arrived through the very player who had spurned the earlier gift. Mbappé scored, then turned provider for Ousmane Dembélé, and inside six giddy minutes a taut, gnawing evening had been settled beyond argument.

The penalty that lingered

The 28th minute should have been the moment France seized the tie by the throat. Mbappé stepped up with the composure of a man who has done this on the biggest nights, but Bounou read him, diving to his right and clawing the ball away in the bottom corner. It was a save of nerve and anticipation, and it sent a jolt of belief coursing through the Morocco ranks.

For the remainder of the first half, the miss hung over France like a warning. Chances came and went, the tempo rose and fell, but that saved spot-kick sat in the memory as a reminder that nothing here would be handed over. Bounou, arms aloft, had turned a routine of French dominance into a genuine examination of their temperament.

Morocco fed off it. Every clearance drew a roar, every stubborn block stiffened their resolve, and the longer the scoreline stayed level the more the notion of an upset began to feel less fanciful. France needed to answer the question their own miss had posed.

Mbappé's answer

The response, when it came, bore all the hallmarks of a great player refusing to be diminished by a single failure. On the hour, Désiré Doué slipped the ball into Mbappé's path on the left side of the box, and this time there was no hesitation and no reprieve for Bounou. A crisp right-footed strike arrowed into the top right corner, unanswerable, emphatic, cathartic.

It was the goal of a man determined to rewrite the afternoon on his own terms. The relief around him was palpable, but Mbappé was not finished settling his account. Having taken his redemption, he set about sharing the spoils, and Morocco's resistance, held together so bravely for sixty minutes, suddenly began to fray.

Six minutes later he turned architect. Collecting possession and drawing the defence towards him, Mbappé released Dembélé, who took a touch outside the box and lashed a right-footed shot into the bottom right corner. Two goals, two moments of genuine quality, and a tie that had teetered on a knife-edge was decisively resolved.

Morocco's brave stand

There was no shame in the manner of Morocco's exit, only the ache of what might have been. For an hour they matched France stride for stride, disciplined in shape and unyielding in spirit, and in Bounou they had a goalkeeper willing to stare down the tournament's most feared forward and win that duel. His penalty save will endure long after the scoreline fades.

But the margins at this level are cruel, and the difference between the sides lay in France's capacity to produce brilliance from half a chance. Morocco defended magnificently until they could defend no longer, and once the first goal breached them the second followed with a swiftness that spoke of tired legs and shattered concentration. They had given everything, and everything was not quite enough.

Their World Cup ends at the quarterfinal stage, a run that will be remembered for its courage rather than its conclusion. To take France to the hour mark in a knockout tie of this magnitude, and to force the great Mbappé to miss from twelve yards, is no small thing. They leave with heads high, undone not by any collapse but by opponents of rare finishing quality.

France march on

For France, this was the performance of a side learning to win when the football is not flowing. There will be nights at this tournament when they dazzle from the first whistle, but the ability to grind through an awkward hour and then flick the switch is the currency of champions. They found a way, and that matters more than any early exhibition would have.

Mbappé's arc from villain to hero encapsulated the whole evening. The missed penalty could have festered into doubt; instead it sharpened him, and his goal-and-assist salvo dragged France into the semifinals with the swagger restored. Dembélé's clean strike from distance was the ideal partner to it, proof that the threat does not begin and end with one name.

Now the last four beckons, and France arrive with their confidence intact and their talisman firing. The doubts raised by an hour of frustration have been answered emphatically. On this evidence, they will fear no one waiting in the semifinals — and anyone drawn against them will know that even a saved penalty is unlikely to keep Mbappé quiet for long.