France were barely troubled in East Rutherford on Tuesday, beating Sweden 3-0 in a performance that made the scoreline look generous to the Scandinavians. The 2022 World Cup runners-up moved into the round of 16 with an attacking display that could plausibly have produced double figures, thwarted only by the crossbar and a string of near-misses.
Paraguay await in the next round, and they will have watched this without much comfort.
Kylian Mbappé was central to everything. His two goals took his World Cup finals tally to 18 goals in 18 appearances, one behind Lionel Messi in the all-time scoring list. He now has six goals in the current tournament.
The match was still goalless when the cooling break drew loud jeers from a crowd of more than 86,000, the four-quarter format continuing to frustrate fans accustomed to a traditional two-half game. But with the Swedish players visibly exhausted in 32-degree heat at MetLife Stadium, few could argue the break wasn’t warranted. A stadium rendition of Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer” filled the pause, to no Swedish benefit.
Mbappé struck the post shortly before the half-hour mark, then broke the deadlock on 45 minutes, collecting a pass from Ousmane Dembélé, threading between two defenders, and driving a right-footed shot past goalkeeper Jacob Widell Zetterström. The pair have now combined for six World Cup goals together, more than any other duo in tournament history, surpassing both the German partnership of Michael Ballack and Miroslav Klose and the Polish pair of Grzegorz Lato and Andrzej Szarmach.
The French bench erupted, and Mbappé ran straight to manager Didier Deschamps on the touchline. Deschamps had returned to the United States having attended his mother’s funeral.
Bradley Barcola doubled the lead eight minutes into the second half, lifting the ball over the goalkeeper from close range. Mbappé added his second in the 73rd minute after a decisive pass from Michael Olise. Deschamps withdrew his captain ten minutes later to a standing ovation.
