When people form memories of the World Cup, it’s matches like this that do it. France once again won comprehensively, and against decent opposition, but the quality of their attacking play, and the sheer beauty of their goals, were difficult to fully appreciate in the moment. It’s the sort of thing that only comes into true focus upon reflection.
Kylian Mbappé drew alongside Lionel Messi in the race for the golden boot here with another brace of unerring finishes. Michael Olise should have had a hat-trick but made do with two assists and a virtuoso performance that left jaws across the floor of the New York-New Jersey stadium. At this point it is very hard to see beyond Didier Deschamps’ men, and there is equally the sense that there is more to come.
On a hot afternoon in East Rutherford, the first half served up an interesting contest with Sweden in the mood to compete and in possession of a gameplan. They had good options on the counterattack, either by releasing Anthony Elanga or going long to Viktor Gyökeres, and both would look immediately to where Alexander Isak was. The Liverpool man was released twice by his teammates in the opening 25 minutes and on both occasions got his shot off. Thanks to the close attentions of Dayot Upamecano and William Saliba, however, neither effort bothered Mike Maignan.
So the threat was there for the Swedes and their defending was compact and brave. How would France find a solution to this problem? For a while it appeared they were struggling, with lots of deft approach play unable to pull the Swedes apart and Mbappé resorting to long range efforts that spoke of frustration. Then, on the half-hour, they upped it.
It was hard to put a finger on what the trigger was precisely, though maybe it was the forceful drive from Adrian Rabiot that Jacob Widell Zetterström only just turned round the post with his feet. Certainly, after that it was an unending succession of French opportunities, each one seemingly more audacious and unfortunate than the last until, eventually, the dam broke.
There was a shot from Mbappé that went over, then another a moment later that hit a post from six yards out. On 35 minutes, Olise effected a perfect scissor kick but saw his effort come off Zetterström’s right post and fall to Ousmane Dembelé, whose follow-up went well over the bar. Olise then nearly scored from 20 yards out but saw his shot turned round a post at full stretch for a corner.
The corner was taken by Dembelé and he played it short to Olise, who returned the pass. Dembelé then played it quickly to Mbappé just inside the box on the right hand side, about six yards out from goal. The angle looked off and there were numerous defenders in his way, but France’s inexorable talisman took a look at his closest man, Gyökeres for some reason, stood him up, shuffled to his right and bent a shot beyond Zetterström in the blink of an eye. By the time the Swedes had realised what was going on, the French were already in a group hug with Deschamps.
There was still time for Sweden to get behind the French defence before the break, with Elanga hitting the byline. He found a good pass but Jules Koundé beat Gyökeres to the ball and Elliot Stroud blazed the follow-up well over.
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France doubled their lead eight minutes into the second half. It began with good work from the Swedes, shutting down a French passing carousel, only to then immediately cough up possession. The ball was seized by Aurelién Tchouaméni and passed directly to Olise, who produced another piece of magic with a pass between the Swedish centre-half and full-back that was weighted perfectly for the run of Bradley Barcola who strode into the box and smashed the ball into the roof of the net.
Olise was in his pomp in this second half. He drifted across the forward line, dropped deep and ran beyond, always looking for the ball, to get it under his spell, manipulate it and cause danger. On the hour he had another effort from 20 yards-plus that forced a sprawling save from Zetterström. Just as compelling, however, was a passing triangle between himself Rabiot and Koundé on the halfway line. It lasted for a minute and the passes came off the instep, outstep, the toe; each with its distinct weight and spin. It was mesmerising.
Olise got his second assist of the game, and Mbappé his second goal, with 15 minutes remaining. Another piece of achingly beautiful play that few other sides in this tournament have shown signs of being able to get close to, it was another deft Olise pass, another perfectly timed run from Mbappé and a repeat finish, curling into the far side of the goal. It was hard not to mutter “ooh la la” involuntarily.
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