France dispatched Sweden 3-0 at MetLife Stadium on Tuesday, with Kylian Mbappe scoring twice and Michael Olise pulling every string in between, to book a last-16 date with Paraguay that carries unmistakable echoes of 1998.
The scoreline flattered Sweden, who barely got a foothold. France hit the woodwork twice before halftime, once through Mbappe and once through an Olise overhead kick, before Mbappe finally broke through right at the break, finishing off a corner combination involving Ousmane Dembele and Olise. Bradley Barcola doubled the lead eight minutes into the second half after Olise slipped a pass through a defender’s legs, and Olise capped his performance by setting up Mbappe’s second on 74 minutes.
The night belonged as much to Olise as to Mbappe. He struck the post with an audacious bicycle kick, set up two of the three goals, and looked, in the report’s words, on another planet throughout. Sweden’s own attacking trio of Viktor Gyokeres, Alexander Isak and Anthony Elanga barely saw the ball long enough to threaten, and Graham Potter’s side now head home from the tournament.
For Mbappe, the numbers keep climbing toward history. His brace pulled him level with Lionel Messi on six goals in this World Cup’s scoring race, and pushed his career tournament total to 18, one behind Messi’s all-time record of 19. He is still only 27, which means the record is very much within reach, not just for this tournament but potentially beyond it.
The emotional center of the match, though, was Didier Deschamps. Mbappe ran straight to embrace his coach after the opening goal, a gesture that landed with extra weight given Deschamps missed France’s final group game against Norway to attend his mother’s funeral. Deschamps has already announced he will step down after the tournament, closing out 14 years in charge that included lifting the trophy as captain in 1998 and as coach in 2018. An exit at the last-32 stage would have been a jarring way to end that run, and France avoided it comfortably.
The Paraguay matchup on Saturday in Philadelphia adds a layer of symmetry. France’s 1998 title run, on home soil, also went through Paraguay in the last 16, a tie remembered for Laurent Blanc’s golden goal in extra time. This version of France looks considerably more dominant than that scare suggests will be necessary, though knockout football has a way of complicating tidy narratives.
Nothing about Tuesday suggested Paraguay will trouble this French side. But the further this run goes, the more the story becomes less about the scoreline and more about whether Deschamps gets the ending his career has arguably earned.
