Mbappe dominant, Giroud breaks record
If anyone’s going to end France’s reign as World Cup champions, it’s going to take something special.
Olivier Giroud broke a major French record while Kylian Mbappe underlined his status as the most dangerous player in the tournament in an authoritative 3-1 Round of 16 win over Poland.
With the strangely muted atmosphere at Al Thumama Stadium a contrast to the hefty challenges both teams were putting in, France inarguably had the better of the early exchanges.
Still, the French had to survive something resembling pinball inside their own box shortly before halftime. A cross from the left evaded Robert Lewandowski, but Piotr Zieliński crushed a 13-yard shot through traffic, only for Hugo Lloris to somehow deny his shot.
Zieliński ran onto the rebound but fired his follow-up into Theo Hernández. Jakub Kamiński then got his chance, shooting past Hernández’s diving attempt to provide a second block, and past Lloris. About 30 yards from goal, Grzegorz Krychowiak began to lift his arms to celebrate.
Raphaël Varane had other ideas, blocking the effort on the line to keep things scoreless.
As certain teams learned on Saturday, if you’re the underdog, you have to turn these moments into goals.
Six minutes later, Giroud broke the French men’s national team goal scoring record to put les Bleus ahead. It ended up being simple work: Mbappé was given enough time on the half-turn to face the Poland goal, slipping the veteran No. 9 into the box. Giroud did the rest, beating Wojciech Szczesny with a low shot.
The goal was Giroud’s 52nd in a France kit, moving him one ahead of Thierry Henry as the most prolific goal scorer their men’s team has ever had.
Giroud seemed to have put in a potentially 53rd in the second half, delivering a bicycle kick finish. But referee Jesús Valenzuela had blown his whistle for a free kick after a collision between Varane, Matty Cash, and Szczesny had ended with all three in a heap.
Poland was putting up a good fight, but ultimately the defending champs were simply too powerful, adding to their lead in the 75th minute.
England gets past Senegal
The Three Lions are still on course for a chance to win a World Cup for the first time in over 50 years.
England ran out 3-0 winners against Senegal, coming through extensive early pressure to stroll to victory in the second half. Jude Bellingham may not have scored the goals, but his vision broke the game open for a Three Lions side that got most of its success in transition moments.
England had long spells of possession, but as has so often been the case in this tournament, that’s something of a curse. England had been struggling, so it looked to the goal-scoring talents of Jordan Henderson to save them. It was an incisive break for the Three Lions, with Harry Kane dropping off the front line to disrupt the Senegalese defensive ranks. Kane did well to wait for his window to send Bellingham in behind after the Dortmund midfielder came from deep.
Making a run from even further from the goal was Henderson, who covered a solid 60 yards to get into position for the calmest of finishes.
England will play France on Friday in a quarterfinal match.