France 3 Iraq 0
France are looking scary. I said before the World Cup that their entire tournament hinges on whether or not the attack will work cohesively with each other and I think we’ve already seen the answer to that question in the first two games, it didn’t take France long to open the scoring as Olise played the ball to Mbappe on the edge of the box who fired a missile with his left-foot past Fadhil to give France the lead in the 14th minute. Iraq actually limited France pretty well in the first half and had a decent chance near the end of the half as Ayman Hussein’s header went wide after a brilliant cross, after more than two-hour weather delay we finally got the second half underway and France did not disappoint with some outrageous football. Their second goal was gifted to them from an Iraq goal-kick which Zaid Tahseen tried to play to his goalkeeper but put too much power on the pass giving the ball straight to Ousmane Dembele who unselfishly squared it to Mbappe who put France 2-0 up in the 54th minute, France were playing some lovely stuff and eventually added a third as Olise played a cutting pass to Dembele in the box who slotted on his right-foot to get his first ever tournament goal for France. Another fine display from what looks like an unstoppable French side.
This French attack isn’t fair on everyone else. Whilst they struggled for rhythm in the first half I thought they were magical in that second half which was summed up by a ridiculous turn by Mbappe on the edge of the box who then laid the ball off to Olise who tried an audacious lob over the Iraq keeper which hit the bar, the fact that the Iraq keeper was laughing afterwards I think says it all. I thought that after a two-hour delay for the second half it might be a struggle but even with a waterlogged pitch they were strutting their stuff which was a joy to watch, Deschamps started with Olise in the 10 after his brilliant second half against Senegal and it worked a treat with Ousmane Dembele also having a good game on the right-wing. I also thought Bradley Barcola had a good game on the left and I’d be surprised if Desire Doue came back in the starting 11 as I think Barcola offers more on the left, overall this France team is going to take some stopping in this World Cup and I’m not sure there’s a team that’s looked better so far. What do you think?
A tough first two games for Iraq. In the first half I actually thought Iraq were quite competitive and without an Mbappe wonder strike would have been well worthy of going into the break level at 0-0, Zidane Iqbal was by far their best player in the game having more touches than both France’s midfielders which shows the quality that he never got to show at Old Trafford when coming through. They’ve now shot themselves in the foot twice when playing out from the back with another comical mistake following the one against Norway when Haaland tackled the goalkeeper and scored, I don’t mind playing out from the back but against some of the world’s best players maybe going long every now and then wouldn’t have been a bad idea. They still have a chance to go through but they’ll need to beat Senegal in the last group game which looks like a tall ask.
The superstars are showing up for this World Cup. Mbappe adds another two goals tonight following his double in the first game which now puts him two behind Messi in the all-time list after the Argentines double earlier on, we saw Yamal score yesterday and Haaland bag two in the opening game against Iraq along with Kane’s brace against Croatia. This World Cup has had everything so far whether that’s upsets from the smaller countries or the top dogs turning up on the biggest stage the biggest tournament in the world has delivered massively so far, we are waiting for one more person to show up however. Will Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo show up to the party tomorrow against Uzbekistan? I hope so.
What has this result done to the group? As I’m writing this Norway are currently beating Senegal so if that stays as it is then France and Norway will go into the final group game knowing that a win for either will get them top spot in the group, if the game ends as a draw then France will top the group due to their superior goal-difference. Senegal take on Iraq in a must-win game for both teams as they currently sit on 0 points after the first two games, three points might not even be enough but I think either would just squeeze them in but it might go down to goal-difference. Surely Senegal won’t get grouped from this World Cup?