Kylian Mbappé scored twice, including a late winner, as holders France beat Denmark 2-1 on Saturday to become the first team to reach the last 16 of the World Cup. A strong French side enjoyed a second win in so many Group D outings to take them to the knockout stages and were well worth the lead Mbappe gave them as he opened the scoring at Stadium 974 just after the hour mark. Andreas Christensen however, soon equalized for the Danes and Les Bleus needed Mbappe to score again in the 86th minute as he turned in Antoine Griezmann’s cross to pierce the Danish resistance once and for all.
After scoring four times during France’s victorious 2018 season and one against Australia, Mbappé now has seven goals in nine World Cup appearances.
Didier Deschamps’ side now have the luxury of going into their final group game against Tunisia, knowing that a draw will guarantee them first place, and even defeat may not prevent them from finishing first.
After coming roaring back to beat Australia 4-1 in their opening game in Qatar, France were more profligate in front of goal on this occasion, but at least they didn’t come undone against opponents who had previously troubled them. They were reigning champions when a defeat to the Danes knocked them out of the 2002 World Cup, while the teams played their only goalless draw in 2018.
More recently, Kasper Hjulmand’s side beat France home and away in this year’s Nations League, and it looked like Deschamps had learned lessons from those two encounters.
If France were a shadow of themselves in Copenhagen in September, they were much better in this match, which was played in a pop-up stadium made from shipping containers on Doha’s waterfront. Deschamps made three changes from his back four, with Theo Hernandez at left back in place of his injured older brother Lucas and Raphael Varane playing his first game in over a month.
Pace and power
But the French attack was unaffected by the game in Australia. If Olivier Giroud made headlines then, here Ousmane Dembele was sometimes electric on the right, Griezmann excelled in an advanced midfield role and Mbappé made the difference.
France’s pace, power and passing were all too sharp for the Euro 2020 semi-finalists, who were lucky enough to draw level at half-time. There were some French calls for a red card in the 19th minute as Mbappé burst onto a superb through ball from Griezmann only to be pulled down by Christensen, but the Danish defender escaped with a yellow card.
The holders’ best chances in the first half came from headers from Varane and Adrien Rabiot, but when Mbappé turned away from Joachim Andersen just before the hour mark, it was a sign that a goal was on the way.
His shot was blocked by Kasper Schmeichel and Griezmann lost a great chance shortly afterwards, but Mbappé did score in the 61st minute.
The Paris Saint-Germain superstar linked up brilliantly with Hernandez on the left and met his team-mate’s drop with a shot that beat Schmeichel thanks to a deflection from Christensen.
Denmark had bid little, but suddenly they were level midway through the second half when Andersen nodded a corner and his fellow defender Christensen headed home.
Hugo Lloris was then forced into an important save to deny Jesper Lindstrom and Martin Braithwaite grazed a post as Denmark threatened to turn the game completely upside down. That would have been very hard on France, even if they had only themselves to blame for not taking advantage of their chances.
But Mbappé could not be denied as he stole from Rasmus Kristensen at the back post with four minutes left to meet Griezmann’s cross with his thigh for his 31st international goal.
Featured video of the day
How to follow FIFA World Cup
Topics mentioned in this article