France’s broad favoritism over Sweden was confirmed with yet another consistent performance from the attack made up of Mbappé, Dembélé, Olise and Barcola.
The three goals scored in this Tuesday’s match (30), valid for the 32-team phase of the World Cup and played at the MetLife stadium, in New Jersey, came from plays created by the quartet.
Two were scored by Mbappé, who has reached 18 goals in World Cups, and one by Barcola. Final score: 3 to 0.
The result eliminates the Swedes and guarantees the French in the round of 16, at 6pm on Saturday (4), in Philadelphia, when they will face Paraguay. The South Americans eliminated Germany on penalties this Monday (29).
Champion in 2018 and finalist in 2022, France became the team that scored the most in this World Cup, with 12 goals. The already eliminated Germany and Netherlands were the leaders, with 11 goals each.
The game started warmly, with the Swedish defense concentrated and the French attack timid. After inaugurating the shots on target with a shot from Isak that was easily saved by Maignan, Sweden started to play behind the ball line to focus on recovering the ball and counterattacks.
This was one of the points that should raise an alarm in the France team, according to coach Didier Deschamps. The other was set pieces. But it was not necessary to take the concern off paper.
The favorites had the patience to occupy the opponent’s area and create more dangerous moves.
In the first half, Mbappé had three great chances. In the first, he opened the scoring after a good pass from Olise, but the play was canceled for offside.
Then, he received a cross from Koundé and shot to hit Zetterström’s left post. The ball bounced off the defense before ending up in the goalkeeper’s hands.
The post was also Sweden’s friend in Olise’s volley attempt, in what would probably be one of the most beautiful goals of this World Cup.
Zetterström made two great saves, one with his left leg after Rabiot’s shot and the other sending the Bayern Munich midfielder’s low shot to the baseline.
From the corner kick, Dembelé passed it to Olise, received it back and passed it to Mbappé, who pedaled to disrupt the Swedish defense and then shot towards the net, in the 45th minute. He celebrated by hugging Deschamps, who lost his mother on the 23rd, during the tournament.
Sweden even tried to equalize in the opening stage with an attempted cross from Elanga, which ended up intercepted by the French defense. In the remainder, Gyökeres isolated it.
It didn’t take long for France to extend the lead, 7 minutes into the second half, through Barcola. Olise played for the PSG striker to finish in front of goal.
Mbappé gave Olise the chance to score with a clear chance, but the number 11 stopped the goalkeeper. Shortly afterwards, the Bayern player returned the kindness and passed to number 10 to score his second of the game, France’s third.
With 2-0 against, Sweden remained calm for those who would need to score twice to achieve a draw. After the third goal, the ability to react decreased even more.
The Real Madrid forward reached sixth in this World Cup and 18th overall in the tournament, surpassing Miroslav Klose (16) on the list of the greatest scorers in history and remaining on the heels of Lionel Messi, who leads with 19 goals, six of which in Argentina’s current campaign.
Deschamps decided to replace Mbappé with Cherki in the 39th minute and bowed to his attacker as he left the field.
With the two assists, Olise also took the lead in the base, with five, surpassing Brazilian Bruno Guimarães, who had four.
