•France’s forward Kylian Mbappe celebrates goal against Sweden with defender Malo Gusto, yesterday
Kylian Mbappe scored twice, and Michael Olise was in scintillating form as France beat Sweden 3-0 at the World Cup yesterday and set up a last-16 clash with Paraguay.
Mbappe finished a superb move to break the deadlock just before half-time in the last-32 tie watched by 80,663 at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, after France had already hit the woodwork twice, once through Mbappe and once through Olise, reports AFP.
The French were on top throughout against a limited Swedish side, utterly dominating in terms of possession and shots on goal.
Olise set up Paris Saint-Germain winger Bradley Barcola for the second on 53 minutes, and then delivered a delightful pass for Mbappe to complete a convincing victory.
Mbappe’s strikes saw him move level with Lionel Messi on six goals in the all-star golden boot race at this World Cup.
The France captain now has 18 World Cup goals in total, meaning he is just one behind Messi’s overall record of 19 — a mark which 27-year-old Mbappe will keep chasing.
He celebrated his first goal by running across to embrace coach Didier Deschamps, who missed France’s final group game against Norway to travel home for his mother’s funeral.
Deschamps will step down at the end of the competition after 14 highly successful years in charge.
Going out in the last 32 would have been such an anti-climactic way to depart for Deschamps, who captained the first France team to win the World Cup in 1998 and coached them to glory in 2018.
In 1998, France’s run to victory on home soil included a 1-0 last-16 win over Paraguay, when Laurent Blanc scored a golden goal in extra time.
Les Bleus will face the South Americans in the last 16 again this time, on Saturday in Philadelphia.
France will be fully expected to win and march on.
Olise On Another Planet
Mbappe and Olise were again central figures, with Ousmane Dembele also showing flashes of his brilliance while Barcola was preferred to Desire Doue as the fourth forward.
Sweden has quality in attack too, with the Premier League trio of Viktor Gyokeres, Alexander Isak and Anthony Elanga. But they couldn’t get enough of the ball to create chances, and Graham Potter’s team now go home.
Getting this far should really be seen as a success for them, however, after they only made it to North America through the back door of the play-offs.
Intense Pressure
Olise released Mbappe through the middle to put the ball in the net in the 20th minute, only for a tight offside call to cut short the celebrations.
However, that sparked an intense spell of French pressure, which eventually resulted in the opening goal.
Some of their football was mesmerising, as Mbappe hit the post from a Jules Kounde ball across the face of goal and Adrien Rabiot fired narrowly over.
Olise then struck an upright with a breathtaking overhead bicycle kick before Dembele put the rebound wide.
The opener came right on half-time, after an Olise effort was tipped behind by Swedish ‘keeper Jacob Widell Zetterstrom.
Dembele and Olise combined at the resulting corner before finding Mbappe, and he did the rest.
Sweden needed the interval to regroup, but they conceded eight minutes again after the restart as the magical Olise threaded a pass through the legs of Gustaf Lagerbielke for Barcola, who lashed in.
Olise couldn’t score when clean through, but soon after, he delivered an exceptional assist for Mbappe to curl in again on 74 minutes.
France looks untouchable even if the toughest tests are still to come, although Paraguay will find it hard to live with them.
