France cemented their status as World Cup favourites with a dazzling 3-0 win over Iraq in Philadelphia in a match suspended for two hours because of storms in Philadelphia and decorated by two more goals from Kylian Mbappe.
Mbappe’s brace moved him past Gerd Muller and Ronaldo in the list of the top all-time scorers in World Cups. The France captain is now level with Miroslav Klose on 16. Only Lionel Messi, who now has 18 goals, is ahead of Mbappe.
Mbappe scored the first in the 14th minute, collecting the ball on the edge of the area and hammering a rising drive through the legs of an opponent. Iraq goalkeeper Ahmed Basila got his fingertips to it but could not keep it out.
The game was the first match at a World Cup to be affected by a weather delay. Soon after the players walked off at half-time, the crowd was told to evacuate the seating area at the stadium because of lightning close to Lincoln Financial Field. Neither the threat nor the torrential rain abated for more than two hours.
When the players finally returned, Mbappe simply resumed where he had left off. Ten minutes after the resumption, Iraq imploded. Ahmed Qasem overhit a goalkick to Ahmed Basila, who was only a few yards to his left. Ahmed Basila could not control it and it ran on to Ousmane Dembele on the edge of the six-yard box. He squared unselfishly for Mbappe to slam the ball over the line. It was the biggest blooper of the tournament so far.
France were immaculate. Michael Olise drifted a beautiful chip over Ahmed Basila only to see it crash off the face of the crossbar. A few minutes later, Olise played a neat pass to Dembele on the right side of the area and Dembele drove his shot across the goalkeeper for France’s third.
Kylian Mbappe scored twice as France sealed a 3-0 victory over Iraq after a long weather delay
Whatever Messi can do, Mbappe can do
We have to talk about Mbappe. The France captain was utterly mesmerising against Iraq. He looks ridiculously sharp and hungry. He bristled with intent every time he got the ball. His movement was like quicksilver. His ambition was unrestrained.
In the first half alone, he scored, missed narrowly with a chip from 45 yards and beguiled the Iraq defence with a drag-back turn in the box that nearly made the opening for a second goal.
Another goal early in the second half took him on to 16 goals at World Cups. He is still only 27 years old. For all the deserved adulation lavished on Messi, when Mbappe is in this kind of form, he looks like the best player in the world.
It has taken him 16 games to score 16 goals in World Cups. Ronaldo needed 18. Klose, 23, and Messi, 27. If he continues in this vein, France are going to be very hard to beat.
It’s not always sunny in Philadelphia
Another kind of history was made. France-Iraq became the first World Cup match to be suspended because of the weather. The players went off for half time as normal but did not return for 2 hours and 11 minutes as storms and torrential rain descended on the Philadelphia metropolitan area.
US protocols mean that play cannot resume for at least half an hour after evidence of lightning strikes is detected within eight miles of the ground. Fans were evacuated from the seats at Lincoln Financial Field and asked to retreat to the concourses.
The players took shelter in their changing rooms. The skyscrapers of downtown Philadelphia faded in and out of the murk in the distance. The delay asked questions about quite how the players were supposed to maintain peak condition after 45 minutes of intense bursts of energy followed by a two hour delay and then another 45 minutes of intensity. The crowd stayed remarkably upbeat and danced in the rain. Eventually, the players were cleared to return.
France’s group clash with Iraq was delayed by two hours and 11 minutes thanks to storms
A succulent sub-plot
The greatest prize is the World Cup itself but the race for the Golden Boot is already more compelling during this tournament than it has ever been before. It is the most delicious sub-plot.
In an age where many fans follow individuals rather than teams, it has, for some, taken on the same level of obsession as the battle for the trophy itself. At times on Monday, it felt as if we were living in a replay of the battle between Messi and Mbappe in the 2022 World Cup Final when Mbappe scored a hat-trick against Argentina and still finished on the losing side.
Messi scored twice against Austria earlier in the day to move past Klose as the all-time leading scorer in the tournament with 18 goals. Mbappe refused to be upstaged and scored two himself. Both men are redrawing the boundaries of goalscoring greatness.
The rain has one advantage
There was one unintended benefit of the two-hour weather suspension of the game: in the second half, we were spared the hydration break that has become one of the symbols of FIFA’s willingness to reshape the game for money.
The hydration break is an advertising break and nothing more but because of the delay in Philadelphia, and because it had poured with rain for much of the past three hours, it was abandoned.
If there is an element of discretion involved, it begs the question why the break is not ignored when conditions are cooler or when matches are played under a roof. We all know the answer to that question.
