Kylian Mbappe scored his 17th and 18th career World Cup goals to keep chasing Lionel Messi and tournament history in France’s 3-0 victory over Sweden in Tuesday’s round of 32 clash.
Mbappe is now one behind Messi on the all-time tournament list, and with his fifth and sixth goals of this year’s tournament has pulled even with the 39-year-old in the Golden Boot chase.
Messi and Argentina face Cape Verde on Friday in Miami Gardens, Florida, in their round of 32 meeting.
Bradley Barcola added his second of the tournament after halftime as the two- time World Cup champions continued their dominant form, having won all four of their tournament matches by a combined 13-2 margin.
Michael Olize had two assists in Tuesday’s victory, which marked the tournament’s first round of 32 match (out of six played) decided by more than one goal. Manager Didier Deschamps’ side will next play on Saturday in Philadelphia against Paraguay, who shocked four-time champions Germany on penalties following a 1-1 draw on Monday in Foxborough, Mass.
Sweden are eliminated following one of the more turbulent World Cup stays in recent memory, defeating Tunisia 5-1 and then losing to the Netherlands by the same score before drawing their group finale 1-1 against Japan to reach the knockout phase. It was their first time advancing from a group in a major tournament since the 2020 European Championships (played in 2021). Sweden failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup and 2024 Euros.
Swedish boss Graham Potter said his team would need to play by far its best game of the tournament to have a chance against the heavily favored French, and they fell well short of that early.
Les Bleus were dominant in the first half, with Mbappe and Olize both hitting the woodwork and Olize also forcing Jacob Widell Zetterstrom into an exceptional low diving save. After the exasperation of those near misses, Mbappe gave Les Bleus the deserved lead in the 45th minute.
Olize and Ousmane Dembele combined from a short corner to slip Mbappe in on the left side of the box. Mbappe cut back to his right against Viktor Gyokeres, then finished emphatically past Widell Zetterstrom. Barcola doubled the advantage eight minutes after the break, finishing past Widell Zetterstrom on the break after running into Olize’s slick throughball that passed through a Sweden defender’s leg.
Mbappe completed the French scoring in the 74th minute, running onto yet another slicing ball from Olize through the left side of the penalty area before scoring on a very similar finish to his opening goal.
Eleven minutes later, Deschamps had the luxury of giving an early exit to his biggest star, who waved to an appreciative standing ovation from the north end of New York New Jersey Stadium on his way off the pitch.