PHILADELPHIA — One match after becoming France’s all-time leading goalscorer, star forward Kylian Mbappe added to that number as he celebrated a century mark of international appearances.
Mbappe propelled France to a 3-0 victory over Iraq in Group I play on Monday night by registering his second brace of this summer’s FIFA World Cup. The Real Madrid forward became the 10th French player to reach 100 senior caps, moving three behind his manager Didier Deschamps on the all-time list.
France moved to 39-2-2 in matches that Mbappe has scored in and he’s now scored 53 goals for club and country in all competitions dating back to last summer’s FIFA Club World Cup.
“It’s been a very long evening,” Mbappe said in a postmatch mixed zone to reporters. “We spent a lot of time dealing with the emotional strain. It’s very difficult because we had to stay focused and engaged in the dressing room. We were in there for over one hour and a half and maintaining focus is very hard, it demands a lot.
“The players and the staff made a huge effort to keep everyone locked in,” he added. “That being said, we got the job done. We’re very happy with the way we played. We’ll try to analyze things over the coming days and see where we can improve because I think there were two or three things we could’ve avoided, that weren’t exactly weak, but less dominant that we could’ve managed better. Overall, I think it’s been a great night.”
Mbappe was active from the early going, drawing a yellow card only five minutes in to Iraq’s Amir Al-Ammari. That was just the start of a busy first half for the 27-year-old, who needed just nine minutes more to break the deadlock.
After plenty of service into the Iraq box that went astray, Mbappe dialed his own number in the 14th minute, delivering a powerful left-footed shot into the far-left corner of Ahmed Basil Fadhil’s net.
Not even a two-hour and 15-minute weather delay would slow Mbappe and Les Bleus down as they continued their enjoyable night in Philadelphia.
Moments after Mbappe hustled to win possession back for Les Bleus, a poor back pass eventually led to Iraq goalkeeper Basil being pickpocketed before Ousmane Dembele unselfishly teed up Mbappe for a smooth finish.
It marked Mbappe’s 60th international goal for Les Bleus, with 16 of those coming in World Cup play. He moved past former Brazilian legend Ronaldo, who he tied earlier in the night, and drew level with German talisman Miroslav Klose for the No. 2 spot.
“Well, records are there to be broken,” Deschamps said in his postmatch press conference, through an interpreter. “And now he has a symbolic figure. He has 100 caps. He’s always scored goals. He will score more goals.
“Take Messi, take [Cristiano] Ronaldo,” he added. “I’m not sure that Kylian will play up to their age, but as long as he’s on the pitch and as he feels right, he will score a lot of goals. Every time he beats his own record, he does have the capacity to up his ante.”
Demeble wrapped up the result for France by bagging his eighth international goal and first for France in over 15 months.
Mbappe may still be chasing Argentina star Lionel Messi, who sits top of the list with 18-career World Cup goals following his brace against Austria earlier in the day, however, it is looking more and more likely that he will eclipse Messi’s mark sooner rather than later.
For Mbappe though, he isn’t focused on Messi, he is focused on himself and helping France be successful this summer.
“As I said yesterday, Leo always scores,” Mbappe said. “He’s always scored, he’s scoring now, and he’ll always score. If I wanted to focus on what Leo is doing, I’d have to do even more myself, so no, I don’t look at what he’s doing at all.
“I’m only thinking about helping my team,” he added. “Of course, I’m part of the team; I score goals, and when you score, naturally you move into that kind of elite company, but as I said, we have a long, complicated road ahead, and we’re going to try to do everything we can to emerge victorious from this perilous journey.”
As for France, they might have dropped from their No. 1 ranking after a shocking May home defeat to Ivory Coast, but they are looking every much as one of the favorites to claim a second World Cup trophy in the past three editions. With a confident, healthy, and in-form Mbappe at their disposal, it’s hard to keep Les Bleus out of the contender conversation.
France will conclude group stage play on Friday against Norway with top spot for grabs in Group I.