PHILADELPHIA: Kylian Mbappe scored his second double of the tournament and Ousmane Dembele added a third as France eased into the last 32 with a 3-0 win over Iraq on Monday in the first game of this World Cup marked by an extended weather stoppage.
Mbappe’s goal, on his 100th cap, came nearly three hours apart after thunderstorms in the region delayed the second-half kickoff by a shade under two hours.
“The first half was good,” said France manager Didier Deschamps. “In the second half we picked up where we left off, considering it wasn’t easy given what happened, and we managed to put the game out of reach. That’s a very good thing.”
Mbappe now sits on 16 World Cup goals all-time and is level with Germany’s former record holder Miroslav Klose.
Earlier on Monday, Lionel Messi set a new benchmark of 18 World Cup goals with a brace in Argentina’s 2-0 win over Austria.
Mbappe’s four goals also put him one behind Messi in the 2026 World Cup Golden Boot race.
Reigning Ballon d’Or winner Dembele scored after the break for the two-time French champions, who face Norway on Saturday with top spot in Group I on the line. The Norwegians beat Senegal 3-2 on Monday to move three points level with the French.
Dembele had faced criticism for what some saw as a poor performance in France’s 3-1 opening win over Senegal.
“There is no problem,” said Deschamps. “Ousmane is sure of himself. He can sometimes get people talking, but I have full confidence in him. He is still finding his tracks because his role is different from the one he has at his club.”
Iraq remains alive for one of the eight third places.
They will probably need a win in their group final against Senegal and help elsewhere. They could be without Aymen Hussein, who scored in their opening 4-1 defeat against Norway, but came off in the 26th minute on Monday with an apparent injury.
Mbappe’s moment of excellence
“You have a moment of excellence from one of the best players in the world,” said Ali Al-Hamadi, who replaced Hussein.
“And then we have to go in and wait for an hour and a half. You know, it’s really hard to come out and keep the same intensity against these big players. And in the end I think we made too many mistakes again,” he added.
France dominated the early stages and Mbappe took advantage in the 14th minute.
After an innocent-looking sequence down the right, the striker received Michael Olise’s pass, took a push to his left and, with defenders giving him space, unleashed a powerful strike from the edge of the area that sailed beyond Ahmed Basil’s dive.
The weather delay could have served as a recovery period for Iraq, who spent most of the first half chasing the ball. Instead, they gave France and Mbappe a second in the 54th minute after a terrible mistake from a goal kick.
Basil was unable to control a short goal kick from defender Zaid Tahseen and Dembele was on hand to set up Mbappe’s simple tap-in. Dembele scored himself 12 minutes later after controlling Olise’s incisive pass and finishing low past Basil.
With the result never really in doubt, the weather provided most of the drama.
After referee Drew Fischer blew the whistle for half-time as the storms had already begun, the skies opened up further and spectators were told to take shelter on the stadium courts.
The players finally reappeared for warm-ups about an hour and 40 minutes later, and even then the restart was further delayed as stadium staff used rubber scrapers to transport standing water from the east side of the pitch.
