France earned a dominant 3-1 win over Poland in a round of 16 match at Al Thumama Stadium in Qatar on Sunday. The team got scoring contributions from its all-time goals leader and someone who appears well on his way to chasing that record.
The first goal came from Olivier Giroud, who capitalized off a pass from Kylian Mbappé in the 44th minute and gave France a 1-0 advantage. The tally marked Giroud’s 52nd career international goal with France and broke a tie with Thierry Henry atop the country’s all-time goals list.
Mbappé padded the French lead in the 74th minute. He was all alone in the box and meticulously ripped a shot past Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny and into the back of the net.
The 23-year-old superstar wasn’t done just yet, though. He scored in the first minute of second-half stoppage time off a similar strike to seal the victory.
The brace put Mbappé at five goals at the 2022 World Cup, putting him two scores up in the tournament’s Golden Boot race and surpassing his total of four goals from the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Next up for France is a quarterfinals match at 2 p.m. ET on Saturday, Dec. 10. The team will face the winner of the round of 16 tilt between England and Senegal, which kicks off at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday.—Reuters
