Kylian Mbappé after scoring his first of two goals. He passed Pelé for most goals in the men’s World Cup before the age of 24.Credit...Franck Fife/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
DOHA, Qatar — After he scored yet another goal and carried France to yet another World Cup victory, Kylian Mbappé raced over to the sideline and held out one finger toward a television camera. As he made a sly grin, he held out another finger and then saluted with both — one for each goal he scored in France’s 3-1 victory over Poland in its round of 16 game on Sunday at Al Thumama Stadium.
It was a moment of brilliance, fun and brashness that exemplified so much about the 23-year-old French superstar who had said he wanted to become a national icon, lead his country to another World Cup title and supplant Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as world player of the year.
“This is the competition of my dreams, and I’m delighted to be here,” Mbappé said on Sunday. “I’ve been preparing for this tournament all through the season physically and mentally. I wanted to be ready, and things have been going well. We’re a long way away from the ultimate objective.”
In the nearly 100 years of the World Cup, only two countries have won titles back to back. Italy did it in 1934 and 1938, before the tournament was a truly global affair. And Brazil, powered by a young Pelé, accomplished the feat in 1958 and 1962.
France wasn’t particularly sharp to start on Sunday, but a goal by Olivier Giroud and two from Mbappé showed off the talent and depth that dispatched a plucky Polish team, clinched a place in the quarterfinals and suggested France might not stop there.
France will face England in its next game. The road will only get tougher from here: Spain or Portugal are the likely opponents after that, while Argentina, the Netherlands, Brazil and the 2018 runner-up Croatia lurk on the other side of the bracket.
“He didn’t have his best match,” the French coach Didier Deschamps said of Mbappé through an interpreter. “I don’t want to accuse him or anything, and he knows that, but he can change a match in a moment. He’s always playing with such joy, and we want to share that with him. France needed a great Kylian Mbappé tonight and they got one.”
The victory brought milestones for two of France’s best players. With his goal in the 44th minute, the 52nd of his national team career in his 117th game, Giroud, 36, passed Thierry Henry as the leading scorer in France’s history.
“Most important is to score more goals to help the team to reach our target and to take games step by step and go as far as we can,” said Giroud, who didn’t score during the 2018 World Cup but now has three in this edition.
In order to repeat as champions, though, France will need more of what Mbappé did on Sunday. As Poland began tiring chasing him around in the second half, Mbappé blazed a shot into the left corner for a 2-0 France lead in the 74th minute. It was his eighth career goal in the World Cup, passing Pelé for most in the tournament before the age of 24. Mbappé didn’t stop there; he added a third French goal in the first minute of stoppage time, his World Cup-leading fifth. It put him in prime position for the tournament’s awards for the best player and the highest scorer.
“I came here to win the World Cup, not the Golden Ball or the Golden Boot,” he said.
Sunday brought the sort of result that was expected from France. Even with a slew of injuries to key players — such as the world player of the year Karim Benzema, defender Lucas Hernandez and midfielders N’Golo Kanté and Paul Pogba — France remained one of the title favorites. It had little trouble in the group stage, losing its final game to Tunisia after it had already earned a spot in the knockout stage and rested many starters.
Poland, on the other hand, barely survived the group stage to reach the knockout round for the first time since 1986. While it had been criticized for being too defensive and conservative despite possessing the star striker Robert Lewandowski, Poland surprised France in a hard-fought first half with a more aggressive attack.
With France stumbling defensively at times, the teams traded moments of pressure and missed opportunities until Giroud broke through near the end of the first half. He received a pass at the edge of the penalty area from Mbappé, who drew Poland’s attention, and then fired a left-footed shot across his body past the Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.
Then in the second half, France broke away as Mbappé took over the game. In the 74th minute, he and forward Ousmane Dembélé raced down the field after a Polish turnover, with Dembélé feeding a long cross to Mbappé. Unmarked on the left side of the penalty box, Mbappé paused, collected himself and drilled a shot into the net for a 2-0 lead.
“No coach knows a recipe to stop Mbappé in the form he’s in right now,” Coach Czeslaw Michniewicz of Poland said through an interpreter. After mentioning other stars such as Ronaldo, Messi and Lewandowski, Michniewicz said Mbappé will be “the one to take over” the sport.
Even with a comfortable lead, Mbappé kept attacking. Soon after stoppage time began, he curled a shot from the edge of the penalty area into the top right corner for his second goal of the game and then celebrated.
“He’s unbelievable,” said Matty Cash, the Polish defender given the unenviable task of marking Mbappé throughout the night. “I spent the afternoon watching his clips, and I obviously knew it was going to be a tough test. But when he gets the ball and he stops and moves, he’s the quickest thing I’ve ever seen.”
The lead extended by Mbappé was plenty of cushion to withstand a penalty kick converted by Lewandowski that was a mere consolation prize in the closing moments of the game. France and Mbappé were well through by then and were already looking forward.
FULL TIME: Kylian Mbappé and France continued to usher order back into the World Cup on Saturday by calmly and methodically dispatching Poland, 3-1. Mbappé scored two goals, giving him five in four games, and making him the leading scorer in the tournament. Olivier Giroud scored France’s first goal; it was his 52nd for his country, edging him ahead of Thierry Henry and into first place on the national team’s career scoring list.
Poland won a penalty deep into injury time, and Robert Lewandowski produced a consolation goal on his second attempt. (His first was saved but the referee ruled that France’s goalkeeper, Hugo Lloris, had come off his line too early, so Lewandowski got a do-over.)
France’s victory came a day after a former finalist (the Netherlands) and a former champion (Argentina) advanced to the quarterfinals. That is where the French are headed now, too; they will play the winner of Sunday’s game, either England or Senegal, on Saturday.
Dec. 4, 2022, 11:57 a.m. ET
Andrew Das
Reporting from Qatar
90′ + 9 GOAL! Lewandowski goes left this time and rolls it in for a consolation goal. He celebrates but there’s really nothing to cheer there. It’s the last kick of the game.
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Credit...Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
Dec. 4, 2022, 11:56 a.m. ET
Andrew Das
Reporting from Qatar
90′ + 7 Lewandowski’s penalty is saved!! A double-stutter approach, trying to get Lloris to commit, robs him of his power, and the shot is saved. But the referee has seen Lloris jump early, so he will retake it.
Dec. 4, 2022, 11:54 a.m. ET
Andrew Das
Reporting from Qatar
90′ + 6 A last bit of drama it seems: The referee has gone to the video review screen to look at a possible penalty, after the V.A.R. official spotted a French handball.
Dec. 4, 2022, 11:55 a.m. ET
Andrew Das
Reporting from Qatar
That’s a bit harsh on Dayot Upamecano, who turned his back on a shot and was hit on the arm.
Dec. 4, 2022, 11:54 a.m. ET
Andrew Das
Reporting from Qatar
90 +5′ A late bicycle kick by Cash almost gives Poland a fun take-home prize, but Lloris is there to save.
Dec. 4, 2022, 11:48 a.m. ET
Andrew Das
Reporting from Qatar
90′ + 1 GOAL! That’s the clincher from Mbappé. France 3, Poland 0.
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Credit...Francois Nel/Getty Images
Dec. 4, 2022, 11:46 a.m. ET
Andrew Das
Reporting from Qatar
87′ Poland’s players seem almost resigned now, as if they’ve been kicked to the kids’ table so the grown-ups can carry on with their business.
Dec. 4, 2022, 11:41 a.m. ET
Andrew Das
Reporting from Qatar
76′ Dembélé and Giroud depart after the goal, replaced by Kingsley Coman and Marcus Thuram. Giroud almost misses his coach, Deschamps, as he is greeted at the bench but realizes late and gets a big hug. Deschamps played with Henry, so he will understand what it means for Giroud to have passed him tonight on France’s career goals list.
Dec. 4, 2022, 11:35 a.m. ET
James Wagner
Reporting from Qatar
That was Mbappé’s fourth goal of the tournament, which leads all players. It was also his eighth career goal in the World Cup before the age of 24, passing Pelé.
Imagine passing Pelé in the World Cup record book in anything before the age of 24.
Dec. 4, 2022, 11:34 a.m. ET
Andrew Das
Reporting from Qatar
Mbappé had been looking a little drained in the last five minutes, even giving up on a ball down the wing that he knew he couldn’t get. But an open look and a chance to score will always revive him. A turnover sends him upfield alongside Giroud and Dembélé, who sees Mbappé open on the left and feeds him. Calmly taking a touch, then another, he picks his spot, lets a defender arrive to screen Szczesny just enough and blasts a shot right past him. Great goal and probably enough — at this point — to send France to the quarters.
Dec. 4, 2022, 11:32 a.m. ET
Andrew Das
Reporting from Qatar
74′ GOAL! Mbappé makes it 2-0 for France.
Dec. 4, 2022, 11:28 a.m. ET
Andrew Das
Reporting from Qatar
64′ Poland has (perhaps belatedly, or maybe just in time) brought on a second striker, Arkadiusz Milik, to help Lewandowski chase the tying goal it needs right now. From “Dances With Wolves” to “Field of Dreams” now: If you cross it, the goal may come.
Dec. 4, 2022, 11:18 a.m. ET
Andrew Das
Reporting from Qatar
57′ A brief delay here — and a little drama — as Szczesny charges out to clear a cross from Varane’s forehead and clears out both the Frenchman and a teammate in the process. It was an ugly collision, and the referee quickly blew his whistle, robbing us of the terrific bicycle kick goal Giroud would have scored off the falling clearance. Too bad (for him and for France) that play had already been blown dead.
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Credit...Friedemann Vogel/EPA, via Shutterstock
Dec. 4, 2022, 11:15 a.m. ET
Andrew Das
Reporting from Qatar
56′ Mbappé makes a little something out of nothing: quick footwork at the top of the area, a fast shot into an inch of space. It almost works, too, but the shot, deflected in a way that sends Szczesny in the wrong direction, rolls wide.
Dec. 4, 2022, 11:08 a.m. ET
Andrew Das
Reporting from Qatar
46′ France opens the half on the front foot, and within a minute Bartosz Bereszynski has absolutely hauled down Dembélé on the right to avoid being beaten. The referee is quick with a yellow, and Griezmann whips in the free kick. It’s a good one, but misses Varane’s head by about an inch, and Szczesny — thankful for no deflection, which would have been a certain goal at that close range — punches clear.
Olivier Giroud’s goal against Poland made him the France national team’s record scorer.Credit...Kirill Kudryavtsev/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
A record-breaking goal by striker Olivier Giroud just before halftime has given France a 1-0 lead over Poland at Al Thumama, and left the French, the defending World Cup champions, 45 minutes from the quarterfinals.
Giroud’s goal, a slick finish off a wonderfully threaded lead pass from Kylian Mbappé, was his 52nd for France, breaking a tie with Thierry Henry for first place on the national team’s career list.
The goal capped a half that was more even than might have been expected: Poland had several excellent chances and an even share of the possession. Late in the half, it nearly opened the scoring, failing only when a frantic French defense cleared three shots off the goal line in quick succession.
Dec. 4, 2022, 10:48 a.m. ET
Andrew Das
Reporting from Qatar
HALFTIME: France 1, Poland 0.
Dec. 4, 2022, 10:46 a.m. ET
Andrew Das
Reporting from Qatar
Giroud’s goal was all about Mbappé’s pass. He saw Giroud with a defender on the wrong side of him and led him perfectly into the area for a one-time finish past Szczesny.
GIROUD DOES IT 🇫🇷
With this goal Olivier Giroud becomes the France men's national team all-time leading scorer 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/YFm8503bKq
Giroud doesn’t always get the respect of other strikers, but a look down that list shows him ahead of some very big names: Henry, Griezmann, Michel Platini, Karim Benzema.
Dec. 4, 2022, 10:44 a.m. ET
Andrew Das
Reporting from Qatar
44′ GOAL!! Giroud, and France leads, 1-0.
Dec. 4, 2022, 10:42 a.m. ET
Andrew Das
Reporting from Qatar
42′ Short break as Koundé, who has been wearing a gold chain for the entire half, is finally told to remove it. It feels like a high school referee might have noticed that before now.
Dec. 4, 2022, 10:42 a.m. ET
James Wagner
Reporting from Qatar
France has not been particularly sharp and Poland is playing better than it previously has. Both teams have missed multiple close-range opportunities and have dangerously teetered on the edge of falling behind. It has been a tighter first half than expected.
38′ Once, twice, three times France is forced to save balls off its goal line. Quite a frantic few seconds for Poland, and for France, but every shot seemed to be right at a blue (or in Lloris’s case, orange) shirt and is either punched, kicked or headed clear. France is very lucky to be at 0-0 after these last few minutes. It needs to get back in control before it makes a mistake it really regrets.
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Credit...Ebrahim Noroozi/Associated Press
Dec. 4, 2022, 10:38 a.m. ET
Andrew Das
Reporting from Qatar
36′ Matty Cash gets a surprise: a ball laying free at the top right corner of France’s penalty area, just waiting to be hit. He sprints up and hits it. But his aim is soooo bad that the shot nearly goes out for a throw-in, which would have been funny for everyone but him.
Dec. 4, 2022, 10:37 a.m. ET
Andrew Das
Reporting from Qatar
36′ Perhaps awakened by a stretch of Poland pressure and possession, France grabs the game by the neck, drags it back down to the other end and gets off a couple of threatening exchanges in quick succession. But Szczesny is there to break up both of them.
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Credit...Elsa/Getty Images
Dec. 4, 2022, 10:35 a.m. ET
Andrew Das
Reporting from Qatar
32′ Curious decision by the Venezuelan referee there. Frankowski cuts inside like a child running out of control down a hill and collides with Tchouaméni on a 50-50 ball. The referee sees not just a foul but a mean one, and whips out a yellow for Tchouaméni. That sets up a free kick for Lewandowski that might be Poland’s best look since his last one, but he sends his attempt straight into the wall.
Dec. 4, 2022, 10:31 a.m. ET
Andrew Das
Reporting from Qatar
29′ How have France not scored there? A terrible giveaway by Przemyslaw Frankowski sends Griezmann and Dembélé off on the sprint. The former plays a great ball ahead to Dembélé into the area, and Dembélé zips a cross to the center for Giroud. But it arrives a split-second too fast, Giroud’s contact is off, and the shot kicks around the left post.
Dec. 4, 2022, 10:34 a.m. ET
James Wagner
Reporting from Qatar
Had he put the ball into the net, Giroud would have passed Henry for most goals in French national team history. They’re currently tied at 51.
Dec. 4, 2022, 10:26 a.m. ET
James Wagner
Reporting from Qatar
22′ Good defense by Matty Cash, who was born in England to a Polish mother, to win a long ball to Mbappé on the left wing. Imagine being Cash, who plays his club soccer at Aston Villa, and having to chase Mbappé around most of the night.
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Credit...Ebrahim Noroozi/Associated Press
Dec. 4, 2022, 10:25 a.m. ET
Andrew Das
Reporting from Qatar
21′ Lewandowski, it’s fair to say, is not having much fun today. Stranded on the Polish frontier like Kevin Costner in “Dances With Wolves,” he gets an occasional sniff of the ball — only to have Varane or Dayot Upamecano or Aurélien Tchouaméni or some combination of all three, suddenly appear to close off his options. So when he gets a rare ball in space, as he just did at the top of the French penalty area, he’s going to shoot. Which he just did, whistling a ball past a diving Hugo Lloris that went juuuussssssst wide of the right post.
15′ It’s fair to say that one of these teams is directing this game and the other is merely taking part in it.
Dec. 4, 2022, 10:16 a.m. ET
James Wagner
Reporting from Qatar
With his speed, Mbappé is already unnerving Poland’s defense. Whenever he has the ball, he’s pushing hard up field on the left wing. It feels like a matter of time before he breaks through, even though defending is Poland’s strength.
Dec. 4, 2022, 10:10 a.m. ET
Andrew Das
Reporting from Qatar
10′ Another Griezmann corner; he delivers a nice one again, but it’ll take more than a nice delivery to beat Szczesny.
Dec. 4, 2022, 10:09 a.m. ET
James Wagner
Reporting from Qatar
8′ Poland is already being more aggressive in attack than it was in its previous game, a 2-0 loss to Argentina. In that game, Poland took four shots, none on target, and Lewandowski struggled to get the ball. Poland has been criticized for being too conservative and too defensive in its approach, but Coach Czeslaw Michniewicz said this entering the game against France: “The ones that weren’t playing defensively at the World Cup are back home watching on TV. Now we’re out of the group phase, so we will change our plans.”
Four minutes into the game and Al Thumama Stadium feels half full. Neither country seems to have large fan contingents in Qatar, but the stands haven’t been filled with last-minute additions yet, as has happened in other games.
Dec. 4, 2022, 10:04 a.m. ET
Andrew Das
Reporting from Qatar
3′ France wins the game’s first corner and Raphael Varane wins the first header from it. Good contact, poor aim, well wide.
Dec. 4, 2022, 10:02 a.m. ET
Andrew Das
Reporting from Qatar
1′ We’re off at Al Thumama. Maybe the rest of the crowd is still outside?
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Credit...Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
Dec. 4, 2022, 10:00 a.m. ET
Andrew Das
Reporting from Qatar
Lewandowski offers mostly handshakes, but the current and former Barcelona players in the France line — including Ousmane Dembélé, Jules Koundé and Antoine Griezmann — merit hugs.
France has reverted to its first-choice team after making a host of changes in its last game, when progress to the knockouts had already been assured.
That means a front line of Kylian Mbappé (tied for the tournament scoring lead with three goals), Olivier Giroud (France’s co-leader for career goals) and Ousmane Dembélé (a strike partner of Poland’s Robert Lewandowski at Barcelona).
Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris ties Lilian Thuram for the most appearances for France with No. 142 today, and Giroud will look to break a tie with Thierry Henry at the top of France’s scoring list. Both currently have 51.
Poland reverts to a lone striker — Lewandowski — and bolsters its midfield by bringing in Jakub Kaminski and Sebastian Szymanski. That feels like a necessary move — and a wise one against France — but a plan and reality aren’t always the same thing.
France lineup:
Hugo Lloris (c); Jules Kounde, Raphaël Varane, Dayot Upamecano, Theo Hernandez; Antoine Griezmann, Aurélien Tchouameni, Adrien Rabiot; Ousmane Dembélé, Olivier Giroud, Kylian Mbappé
Poland lineup:
Wojciech Szczesny, Matty Cash, Kamil Glik, Jakub Kiwior, Bartosz Bereszynski; Przemyslaw Frankowski, Grzegorz Krychowiak, Sebastian Szymanski, Jakub Kaminski, Piotr Zielinski; Robert Lewandowski (c).
France’s Didier Deschamps is well aware that things can go very wrong very quickly when Robert Lewandowski is wearing the other team’s shirt. “He didn’t get a lot of the ball in the group stage, but with just one chance he can be very dangerous,” Deschamps said.
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Credit...Dylan Martinez/Reuters
Dec. 4, 2022, 9:39 a.m. ET
Andrew Das
Reporting from Qatar
From the If Only It Were That Easy department: “The key to stopping Mbappé?” Poland goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny joked Saturday. “It’s me.”
In an interview this summer, Kylian Mbappé touched on a wide range of topics, but the 2022 World Cup was central among them.
He said he is focused on cementing his status as a national icon in France. He wants to win another World Cup. He wants to finally lift the Champions League trophy with Paris St.-Germain. He wants to supplant Messi and Messi’s longtime rival Cristiano Ronaldo as world player of the year and can summon — unprompted — the number of Ballon d’Or trophies each has won, perhaps the best example of how much such accolades mean to him, even as he insists collective honors come first.
A championship run here in Qatar would certainly move him further along on that quest. You can read my entire interview with Mbappé here.
Kylian Mbappé and Antoine Griezmann are two of France’s attacking threats for its game against Poland on Sunday.Credit...Stephane Mahe/Reuters
France vs. Poland
How to watch:10 a.m. Eastern. Fox, Telemundo, Peacock.
That France has the deepest pool of talent in world soccer is no secret, least of all to the other teams in Qatar. How deep? Nine other teams at the World Cup included French-born players on their final squad lists. Four of those teams advanced to the knockouts.
That wealth of homegrown talent has proved to be a valuable asset for Coach Didier Deschamps of France. He lost the World Cup-winning midfielders Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kanté in the weeks leading to the tournament and striker Karim Benzema, the newly crowned world player of the year, once the team arrived. Yet France has barely missed a beat.
Its performances have been, at times, dominant. Stunned by an Australia goal nine minutes into its opening game, France replied with four of its own (and could have had a couple more). When Kylian Mbappé gave the French a lead in their second match only to see Denmark promptly respond, he simply scored again, and France won again.
France is trying to become the first team since Brazil in 1962 to defend the World Cup trophy, and there is, for now, no reason to doubt that it will make a deep run. None of that is assured, of course: If France can get past Poland today, potential roadblocks include England and Spain.
For now, the focus for France is Poland, and running out all the starters who sat in its final group game: a 1-0 defeat to Tunisia.
Poland emerged from the group stage on the strength of a scoreless tie against Mexico and a 2-0 victory against Saudi Arabia, but it would be a stretch to say the Poles inspired anyone with their play. Poland was shut out twice, despite fielding one of the world’s most prolific strikers in Robert Lewandowski, and only advanced on a tiebreaker.
If Lewandowski’s teammates can feed him a chance, or three, he could be a game changer against France. That first bit, though, will be the hard part.
Olivier Giroud celebrating after France’s victory over Denmark in the World Cup.Credit...Stu Forster/Getty Images
Olivier Giroud was never really one of those prospects who caught the eye. Through his teenage years, he was not on the hamster wheel that is reserved for the best and brightest, the kids who everyone is sure are going to make it. He never represented his country at the youth level. The under-16s passed him by. So did the under-17s. And the under-18s.
By the time Giroud was 23, he had established himself as a mildly prolific goal scorer in the French second division, first for Grenoble and then for Tours, small clubs with close horizons. There is no shame in that, of course: You have to be exceptional, after all, merely to be a decent professional athlete. But 23 is not young, not in soccer terms. Giroud’s chance seemed to have passed him by. It had not.
In France’s opening game of this tournament, Giroud scored twice. It took his tally of national team goals to 51 (he has made 116 appearances for his country, a remarkable total given the wealth of talent pressing for inclusion). That was as many as Thierry Henry, the kid who was always going to be a superstar, scored for France. Giroud now needs one more goal to be the most prolific goal scorer in the history of the French national team.
He is 36 now. He left Arsenal, his club for many years, for Chelsea, and then for A.C. Milan. He helped that club end its decade-long wait for a top-flight Italian title last season. He may yet end his career as a two-time World Cup winner. It’s not bad for a late bloomer. It is almost enough to make you wonder whether soccer might, sometimes, be a little too quick to judge.
