Adverse weather conditions caused France’s 3-0 win over Iraq to be hit by suspension amid a torrential downpour and lightning. But it wasn’t enough to stop Kylian Mbappé.
Mbappé was making his 100th appearance for France at the age of 27, having become his country’s record goalscorer by scoring two against Senegal last time out. Here, he extended that record to 60 goals, first breaking the deadlock as he fired a left-footed effort from outside the box beyond Iraq goalkeeper Ahmed Basil Fadhil.
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the game disrupted by an hour-long break at halftime due to the storms, the French captain had to stay on his toes. He added a second goal nine minutes into the second period, providing a neat finishing touch to excellent work from Paris Saint-Germain’s Ousmane Dembélé.
The forward was active throughout with eight shots and 10 touches in the opposition box both ranking him ahead of any other player on the field of play. He even missed three big chances, most notably on 14 minutes as he fired straight at Fadhil from short range with a shot worth 0.41 xG.
He was the only Real Madrid player in the France squad to be selected to start the encounter. Midfielder Aurélien Tchouameni was benched with Roma’s Kouadio Koné coming in to join Milan’s Adrien Rabiot in the double pivot.
Defender Ibrahima Konaté confirmed he would join Los Blancos this summer last week, but he is yet to get any minutes of game time in the United States as Bayern’s Dayot Upamecano and Arsenal’s William Saliba continue.
France will pay close attention to Norway’s fixture against Senegal, knowing that a win for the Africans would ease the pressure on Les Bleus in their final group game.
While France have won both of their opening two games, a draw (if their goal advantage is superior) or win for Norway when they meet in Boston on Friday could prevent them from going through in top spot. That would pitch them in the same part of the draw as Brazil and England in the round of 16-!: quarterfinal.
