Online Desk
Kylian Mbappé scored twice, and Michael Olise was in scintillating form as France beat Sweden 3-0 at the World Cup on Wednesday to set up a Round of 16 clash with Paraguay.
Mbappé finished a superb move to break the deadlock just before half-time in the last-32 tie watched by 80,663 at the New York New Jersey Stadium, after France had already hit the woodwork twice — once through Mbappé and once through Olise.
The French were on top throughout against a limited Swedish side, utterly dominating in terms of possession and shots on goa
Olise set up Paris Saint-Germain winger Bradley Barcola for the second on 53 minutes, and then delivered a delightful pass for Mbappé to complete a convincing victory.
Mbappé’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 Mbappé will keep chasing.
Olise released Mbappé 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 Mbappé hit the post from a Jules Koundé ball across the face of goal and Adrien Rabiot fired narrowly over.
Olise then struck an upright with a breathtaking overhead bicycle kick before Dembélé put the rebound wide.
The opener came right on half-time, after an Olise effort was tipped behind by Swedish ‘keeper Jacob Widell Zetterstrom.
Dembélé and Olise combined at the resulting corner before finding Mbappé, and he did the rest.
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 Round of 32 would have been 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.
Sweden has quality in attack too, with the Premier League trio of Viktor Gyökeres, 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.
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 Mbappé to curl in again on 74 minutes.
Getting this far should really be seen as a success for Sweden, however, after they only made it to North America through the back door of the play-offs.
Les Bleus will face the South Americans in the Round of 16 again this time, on Saturday in Philadelphia.
France will be fully expected to win and march on. Freshly-minted giant killers Paraguay, riding high on their win over Germany, may feel differently.
