PHILADELPHIA: Kylian Mbappe scored his second brace of the tournament and Ousmane Dembele added a third as France advanced to the round of 16 with a 3-0 victory over Iraq on Monday in the first match of this World Cup plagued by a long weather stoppage.
Mbappé’s goals, in his 100th international appearance, came almost three hours apart after thunderstorms in the area delayed the second-half kick-off by just under two hours.
“The first half was good,” said French coach Didier Deschamps. “In the second half we picked up where we left off, knowing 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 has 16 all-time World Cup goals, tied with former German record holder Miroslav Klose.
Earlier on Monday, Lionel Messi set a new World Cup record of 18 goals with a brace in Argentina’s 2-0 win over Austria.
Mbappe’s four goals also put him one behind Messi in the race for the 2026 World Cup Golden Boot.
Dembélé, the reigning Ballon d’Or winner, scored after half-time for two-time champions France, who face Norway on Saturday with first place in Group I at stake. The Norwegians beat Senegal 3-2 on Monday to move back into a three-point tie with the French.
Dembélé had been criticized for what some considered a poor performance in France’s 3-1 win over Senegal.
“There is no problem,” Deschamps said. “Ousmane has confidence in himself. He sometimes knows how to make people talk, but I have total confidence in him. He is still finding his way because his role is different from the one he has in his club.”
Iraq remains alive for one of the eight third places.
They will likely 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 to Norway but came off in the 26th minute on Monday with an apparent injury.
Mbappé’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 difficult to come out and keep the same intensity against these big players. And in the end, I think we still made too many mistakes,” he added.
France dominated the early stages and Mbappe capitalized in the 14th minute.
After an innocent-looking sequence down the right, the striker received Michael Olise’s pass, took a touch to his left and, with the defenders giving him space, unleashed a powerful strike from the edge of the area that went past 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 gifted France and Mbappe a second in the 54th minute after a terrible mistake on a goal kick.
Basil was unable to control a short kick from defender Zaid Tahseen and Dembele was on hand to set up Mbappe’s simple tap-in. Dembele scored 12 minutes later after controlling Olise’s incisive pass and finishing low past Basil.
With the outcome never really in doubt, the weather was the cause of most of the drama.
After referee Drew Fischer blew the halftime whistle while the storms were already beginning, the skies opened again and spectators were invited to take shelter in the stadium corridors.
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 squeegees to remove standing water from the east side of the field.
