However, to repeat as champions, France will need more than what Mbappé did on Sunday. As Poland began to tire of chasing him in the second half, Mbappé hit the left corner to give France a 2-0 lead in the 74th minute. It was the eighth goal of his career at the World Cup, overtaking Pelé for the most goals in the tournament before the age of 24. Mbappé didn’t stop there; he added a third goal for France in the first minute of injury time, his fifth World Cup lead. It puts him at the top of the league’s awards for best player and top scorer.
“I came here to win the World Cup, not the Ballon d’Or or the Golden Shoe,” he said.
Sunday brought the expected results from France. Even as a number of key players suffer injuries — such as the world’s best player Karim Benzema, defender Lucas Hernandez and midfielders N’Golo Kanté and Paul Pogba — France remains one of the contenders. champion member. It struggled a bit in the group stage, losing its last game to Tunisia after having secured a place in the knockout stages and missed many early games.
In contrast, Poland almost made it out of the group stage to reach the knockout stages for the first time since 1986. Criticized for being too defensive and conservative despite possessing star striker Robert Lewandowski, but Ba Lan surprised France in a difficult match. fought the first half with a more aggressive attack.
With France sometimes making mistakes in defense, the teams exchanged moments of pressure and missed opportunities until Giroud broke through near the end of the first half. He received a pass on the edge of the box from Mbappé, who had Poland’s attention, then hit a left-footed shot past Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.
In the second half, France equalized when Mbappé dominated the game. In the 74th minute, he and striker Ousmane Dembélé plunged down the field after a challenge from Poland, with Dembélé passing a long pass to Mbappé. Unmarked on the left side of the box, Mbappé stopped, crouched down, and fired a shot into the net to make it 2-0.
Poland coach Czeslaw Michniewicz said: “No coach knows the formula to stop Mbappé on current form. After mentioning other stars like Ronaldo, Messi and Lewandowski, Michniewicz said Mbappé would be the “takeover” of the sport.
Even with the lead, Mbappé continued to attack. As soon as injury time started, he fired a shot from the edge of the box into the top right corner to score his second goal of the game and then celebrate.
