World Cup favourites France were made to sweat to book their quarter-final place but Kylian Mbappe’s second-half penalty proved enough to help them past a resolute Paraguay in Philadelphia. Paraguay limited the two-time winners to very few chances until substitute Desire Doue was fouled inside the box by Brighton’s Diego Gomez and referee Ilgiz Tantashev pointed to the spot after a video assistant referee (VAR) intervention.
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Kylian Mbappe became the all-time leading goalscorer in World Cup knockout matches as France cruised past Sweden 3-0 to set up a last 16 tie with Paraguay. A strike in each half took Mbappe to 10 knockout stage goals, while he now shares the lead in the Golden Boot race at this tournament with Argentina’s Lionel Messi, with both on six goals.
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Ousmane Dembele scored a stunning first-half hat-trick as France secured top spot in their World Cup group with a convincing 4-1 win over much-changed Norway. The Paris Saint-Germain star struck three times in the opening 32 minutes in Boston as France maintained their 100% record in Group I in the absence of coach Didier Deschamps.
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Kylian Mbappe scored twice on his 100th appearance for France as they beat Iraq 3-0 in a match delayed for more than two hours by bad weather. Mbappe scored either side of the storm which delayed the second half to move alongside Miroslav Klose on 16 World Cup goals, behind only Lionel Messi who took the record to 18 with two goals against Austria on Monday.
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Captain Kylian Mbappe became France’s all-time leading men’s scorer with a double against Senegal as they ran out 3-1 winners. France took charge after the break, with skipper Mbappe scoring in the 66th minute and substitute Bradley Barcola doubling their lead. A chaotic stoppage-time period saw Ibrahim Mbaye pull one back for Senegal, but just one minute later Mbappe had the final say with a stunning long-range strike.
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