France's World Cup defence will continue in the quarterfinals against England, who defeated Senegal 3-0 late Sunday.
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With goals from Olivier Giroud and Kylian Mbappe, France advanced to the World Cup quarterfinals with a convincing 3-1 win over Poland on Sunday. Giroud appeared to be on his way to scoring early on when he arrived to tap in Ousmane Dembele’s backpost cross into an open goal, but he couldn’t get there in time. Giroud, on the other hand, would not be denied, putting France ahead on 44 minutes with a superb turn and shot, his 52nd for Les Bleus and moving him ahead of Thierry Henry to become the country’s all-time leading men’s scorer.
Mbappe doubled France’s lead on 75 minutes with a powerful strike before adding another with a spectacular curled finish into the far top right corner – his fifth of the tournament. Robert Lewandowski scored a late consolation goal for Poland. Poland’s striker missed his first attempt, but referee Jesus Valenzuela ordered a re-take, and Lewandowski scored again. France’s World Cup defence will continue in the quarterfinals against England, who defeated Senegal 3-0 late Sunday.
France appeared unconcerned, particularly Mbappe, but one minute into injury time, the forward produced a spine-chilling rising shot that went under the bar before curling another jaw-dropping shot into the top corner. It was his fourth and fifth goals in Qatar, and Mbappe became the first player under the age of 24 to score nine World Cup goals, surpassing Argentina’s Lionel Messi. Here are some talking points from the match.
France’s greatest strength is obvious. The front line has a fantastic range of qualities. Nobody would want to deal with this pair in this state. Antoine Griezmann buzzes with intelligence, while Ousmane Dembele adds dash. Considering the problems, injuries, and withdrawals that France had to deal with in the run-up to this World Cup, things on the field have gone better than they could have. Because of the numerous high-profile absences, Didier Deschamps has effectively had to assemble a new team from scratch. It is a testament to him and his players that they have gelled so well thus far.
Olivier Giroud has always believed that everyone has their own story. He had this thought even before he had played a single minute for France. As far as late bloomers go, Giroud’s blossoming has been well worth the wait, as well as the effort, resilience, and determination he has required along the way. Being the top scorer in a country with the football heritage of France is an incredible accomplishment. He exuded confidence as he controlled his timing to ease onto Mpabbe’s pass and bounce-shot the ball into the corner past his former Arsenal teammate Wojciech Szczesny.
In the build-up to this match, there was a lot of discussion about Poland’s use of Robert Lewandowski in terms of whether he receives enough ball, but the fact that Piotr Zielinski was barely involved in their attacking play was a huge problem against France. Zielinski had Poland’s best scoring chance in the first half, but Hugo Lloris saved his close-range effort from a Bartosz Bereszynski cut-back. Apart from that, he was barely a factor in the final third.
