Overview
- France defeated Sweden 3-0 at MetLife Stadium to reach the last 16, with Kylian Mbappé scoring twice and Michael Olise providing two assists.
- The win on Tuesday restored a clean defensive sheet for Les Bleus after William Saliba returned to the centre-back pairing and Marcus Thuram was ruled out with a muscle problem.
- Coach Didier Deschamps, back on the bench after returning to France for his mother’s funeral, was embraced by players after Mbappé’s opening goal, a moment widely noted as a sign of squad unity.
- France will face Paraguay in Philadelphia on July 4, a matchup framed by Paraguay’s upset of Germany and the single-elimination format that makes each knockout game sudden and unforgiving.
- Mbappé’s two goals bring him to six in this tournament and 18 in World Cup finals, one behind Lionel Messi’s record, underlining both his individual chase and France’s reliance on prolific attacking form.