NEW DELHI: France continued their brilliant run at the 2026 FIFA World Cup by beating Sweden 3-0 in the Round of 16 and creating a piece of tournament history.Didier Deschamps’ team became the first team in FIFA World Cup history to score three or more goals in five consecutive games. FIFA confirmed the success in a post on X following France’s comfortable victory.“France became the first team in @FIFAWorldCup history to score three or more goals in five consecutive matches,” FIFA announced.
Mbappe shines again
Kylian Mbappe he again led from the front, scoring twice as France progressed to the last 16. Bradley Barcola also netted as Les Bleus maintained their perfect record in the tournament.With his two goals, Mbappe took his FIFA World Cup tally to 18 goals. He moved into second place on the all-time World Cup goalscoring list, twice more than Miroslav Klose and only one less. Lionel Messi.France dominated much of the first half and finally put the game away when Mbappe dribbled into the penalty area before firing into the corner.Sweden had little chance of a comeback after the break. Michael Olise set up Barcola for France’s second goal before providing another assist for Mbappe, who scored his second of the game to take his tally to 10 goals in World Cup knockout games.
Deschamps proud of his team’s effort
France coach Didier Deschamps praised his players after another dominant performance.“A lot of pride and a lot of emotion. Before this game, we saw in the second game of 32 games that no game was easy, and neither was ours, even though we had a bit of a discount. We could have been more efficient in the first half, but we have to appreciate what we achieved,” said Deschamps.
Another knockout challenge awaits us
France have now reached the round of 16 for the seventh time in their history (1986, 1998, 2006, 2014, 2018, 2022 and 2026). Only Brazil have a longer streak of consecutive appearances at this stage, while France’s streak highlights their consistency on the biggest stage.France next face Paraguay in Philadelphia on July 5. Looking ahead to the next challenge, Deschamps said: “There’s another game in four days, and that’s what we’re here for. We’ll enjoy what we did today, not looking too far ahead, otherwise we’ll be back on the ground quickly. We have to keep the same focus, the same determination for the next stage against Paraguay, a big South American nation, very persistent and talented. They’re not here by chance and they have some good players. We’ll take our time to get this ready before we prepare for this next phase.”
