Mbappe’s Brace Gives France A Victory over Sweden

By Daniel Feuerstein | East Rutherford, NJ | June 30th, 2026

One of the favorites in this 2026 FIFA World Cup is facing the most scrutinized teams that qualified from the European Playoffs from their standing in the UEFA Nations League and had a disastrous Qualifying campaign as France faced Sweden. While it was a solid contest between these two teams, it was evidently clear that the pre-tournament favorites once again showed their muscle and prowess to take down their opponents in front of them and handle their business flawlessly. Under the leadership of their superstar France took out Sweden with the final score of three goals to nil.

Mbappe is chasing Messi for the goalscoring title

Kylian Mbappe is on a scoring tear, and he is closely catching up to Lionel Messi for the record of most goals scored in the World Cup. If it’s not for the Golden Boot in this edition, then it’s for the record in the most goals scored in all the World Cups that Mbappe has participated in since he began for the French National Team. In their current match in the Round of 32, the new face of French Football has scored two goals, and it’s his 17th and 18th in his career in this tournament. He has shown the flair and dramatics, making him so dangerous.

After going through an entire first half of defensive play and being denied by Sweden, France was desperately looking to get themselves on the scoreboard before the halftime whistle blew. Just one moment was going to change the game, and it finally happened within the final minute of regulation in the first half. Ousmane Dembele, along the near side, had control of the ball and quickly made a pass to Kylian Mbappe. Once Mbappe had the ball inside the area, he had two defenders on him, but ignored their attempts to stop him as Mbappe took a big shot, and it curled inside the far post and in at the 45th minute.

His second goal of the match was another masterpiece of footwork and power. This time from the far side of the pitch, Mbappe was behind the defender and waited for his chance to pounce on a ball laid out to him and make the Swedes pay. Michael Olise held the ball and was pressed by the defender at the same time. When he saw his chance to unleash the pass to Mbappe, Olise quickly sent the ball and sprung Mbappe into his attacking run, and smashed it home for the brace in the 74th minute.

Barcola gets a tally for the two-goal lead

France were comfortable with the ball as they were moving it down the middle of the pitch. It was a successive rate of passing to get a shot off at the end of the run. When Olise received the ball from the midfield circle, he continued the run and laid it off toward Bradley Barcola. As Barcola entered the Swedish area, he unleashed a big shot that nailed the upper far 90 in the 53rd minute. The Swedish defense gave Barcola so much room to operate that he felt no pressure to take a shot and did.

Head Coach Didier Deschamps returns

After flying back to France to attend the funeral for his mother, France’s head coach Didier Deschamps returned to the bench at MetLife Stadium for his national team. When Mbappe scored the first goal of the match for France, he quickly turned around and ran straight for the Technical Area and gave his head coach a big hug and a dedication to him as he scored the goal for him and in memory of Deschamps’ mother. A wonderful moment for the head coach, as this is his last World Cup for the French National Team

With the win over Sweden, France will now play Paraguay in the Round of 16, and this one will be a big matchup when these two sides meet in the next round. But right now, France is looking like the true favorites that they have been tagged as in the pre-tournament predictions that many have pencilled into their notebooks to return to the championship final. It looks as though they are on a mission, and so far they haven’t disappointed.

France once again had another fantastic game and took care of Sweden to advance into the Round of 16 in the 2026 FIFA World Cup

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