FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — France withstood its toughest test yet, and now marches into the World Cup semifinals with the chance to do something unprecedented in the modern era.

On an afternoon when Kylian Mbappé had looked so vexed at the puzzle presented to him by Morocco’s low block, missing a penalty early and struggling to find any space in open play, he finally broke through in the second half and left Morocco without an answer.

It was an almost nothing play, the sort from which only a player like Mbappé can create a moment of magic. He was almost stationary atop the box as the ball volley-balled its way to him.

He struck it with his right foot, curling the ball around Issa Diop, around Yassine Bounou and in so doing, solved the Gordian Knot of Morocco by slicing through it.

The opener, 60 minutes into the eventual 2-0 French victory, seemed in the moment to be decisive because Morocco had shown so little attacking prowess to that point.

Once the Atlas Lions were forced to try to go forward and open the game up, that’s just what it was. By the hydration break seven minutes later, Ousmane Dembélé had added a second goal for France, ending a slaloming run towards goal with an exquisite finish.

There was no coming back from there for Morocco.

Without its star striker Ismael Saibari, and against a France side with more offensive talent than it knows what to do with, Moroccan coach Mohamed Ouahbi chose to sit back in a low block and absorb pressure. It’s the sort of plan often adopted by the underdog, and it did the trick for a while.

Once it had to play from behind, though, there was nothing in it for Morocco. Azzedine Ounahi’s shot in the 83rd minute was the first and only time all afternoon that French keeper Mike Maignan was forced into action.

France, which will face the victor between Spain and Belgium on Tuesday in Dallas, can become the first nation to make three consecutive World Cup finals since Brazil did so from 1994-2002.

West Germany (1982-90) is the only other country to do so.

Even the greats of those teams — even the greats of the Brazilian teams in the 1950s, 60s and ‘70 — don’t look like such giants next to Mbappé. He’s on 20 goals in 20 career World Cup games, eight of them in six games this year, and at 27 years old, he still seems to have so much runway left.

The game’s opening salvos were simultaneously all French while serving to build up Morocco’s confidence.

For the most part, Ouahbi’s approach worked, and when it didn’t, Bounou was there to clean up the mess. France had so much of the ball and seemed so suffocating, yet the opposite of inevitable. All that talent — Dembélé, Mbappé, Michael ​Olise, Désiré Doué — couldn’t find a way through. 

Les Bleus’ best chance of the first 45 minutes came after Noussair Mazroui, playing center back in an awkward-at-best fit, took down a steamrolling Mbappé on a rare counterattack. After a VAR review that seemed to take an age, all with Mbappé standing over the ball, he stutter-stepped and rolled his shot straight into Bounou’s arms.

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Doué’s chance later in the half, also met with a great save by Bounou, also came out of Moroccan possession; Ounahi’s giveaway in midfield giving Doué the space to run forward and lash a shot for the Moroccan keeper to dive right and parry.

In buildup and with extended possession, though, France seemed incapable of breaking down the low block. When the whistle blew for halftime, shots were 13-1 in favor of France — Morocco’s lone attempt was a stoppage-time Achraf Hakimi free kick that didn’t come close — and yet all the momentum seemed to be with the Atlas Lions.

Against a team with less raw talent, it may have kept on working. France, though, doesn’t always need tactics or the sort of metronomic passing that can pull apart defenses, capable as it is of both. 

Sometimes, it can rely on the magic at Mbappé’s feet. On Thursday, they walked a nation all the way from Boston to Dallas, its chance at history in the making.