Mbappe stars in Philly rain as France overpower Iraq to advance

The gulf between the two teams was evident and undeniable, yet despite France playing with a confident swagger throughout a rain-soaked first half, the Asian side were organised enough to limit Les Bleus’ advantage to a single goal at half-time. 

On the same day that Lionel Messi broke the record for the most career goals at the WC finals, it was unlikely that Mbappe would relinquish the headlines without a fight, and it took him less than a quarter of an hour to leave his mark. The Real Madrid man received the ball from Michael Olise on the edge of the box, and his rifled effort flew past Iraqi goalkeeper Ahmed Basil into the top corner.

After the opener, the expected deluge of French goals did not arrive, although Mbappé was at his ambitious best with an attempted effort from 45 yards out flying harmlessly over. The floodgates did eventually open, but not in a footballing manner, as a heavy thunderstorm arrived in the dying moments of the first period and eventually led to the kick-off of the second half being delayed by around two hours.

Having waited for the tempest to pass, Iraq soon found themselves in choppy waters after a calamity of events entirely of their own making as they gifted France a second goal. From their own goal kick, Ahmed Qasem’s simple square pass to his goalkeeper was hopelessly wayward, allowing Ousmane Dembélé to selflessly tee up Mbappé, who tapped in his 16th WC goal in as many games.

Didier Deschamps’ men were clearly on top for the remainder of the game, with Michael Olise hitting the bar with a delicate chip from the edge of the box before a long-overdue goal for Ousmane Dembele rounded off the scoring.

In his 19th match, the Ballon d’Or holder finally scored at a major international tournament, finishing off Olise’s excellent work by ramming a low drive into the corner from a tight angle. With France marching into the knockout stages, Iraq now know they must beat Senegal on Friday to have any chance of prolonging just the second WC campaign in the country’s history.