France 3 Senegal 1
A statement opening game from the favourites. France are most peoples favourite for the tournament and you could see why in that second half, they were having some difficulties in a first half that Senegal probably edged with Jackson hitting the post and Sarr going close in added time. You could sense the difference in the French team in the second half with a much better press winning the ball higher up which led to Olise and Mbappe having great chances in the first 15 minutes of the second half, France did then take the lead as Olise played a brilliant through ball to Mbappe on the right-hand-side of the box who then slid the ball past Edouard Mendy to put France 1-0 up in the 66th minute. As Senegal opened up to try and equalise in the last 10 minutes France nabbed their second on the break as Rabiot played the ball in behind for substitute Bradley Barcola who lifted the ball over Mendy to double France’s lead in the 82nd minute, Senegal did get one back five minutes into injury time through Ibrahim Mbaye who skipped past Theo Hernandez and shot straight through Maignan to get one back for the AFCON champions. Barely a minute after play had restarted from the goal Mbappe picked up the ball from about 25 yards and fired a missile past Mendy to put the game to bed for France, what a second half.
Who’s beating this France team this tournament? Even when they had a poor first half it doesn’t really matter because you know at some point one of Olise, Mbappe, Dembele or Doue will produce a bit of magic to open the game and that’s what happened in the second half, Olise moving into the middle was exactly what France needed and he was sensational in the second 45 providing the assist for Mbappe’s first goal which opened the game completely. Kylian Mbappe has been disrespected all season at Real Madrid despite scoring over 40 goals and he’s clearly out to prove people wrong in this World Cup which would worry just about every other team in the tournament, defensively I don’t think France were great today especially down that left-hand-side where Theo Hernandez definitely looks like a weakness but I think Saliba and Upamecano will be able to mask some of his defensive weaknesses which will be important. The fact that France can sub on players like Barcola and Cherki in the last 10 minutes is ridiculous and shows the sheer quality Deschamps has at his disposal this tournament, what a statement of intent from France against the AFCON champions.
A tough opener for Senegal. It’s hard to judge Senegal today as they were playing against probably the best team in the tournament but I still don’t think they played to their full potential, they were unlucky not to be leading going into half-time with Jackson’s shot hitting the post and coming back off Maignan going out for a corner. That shot easily could have ricocheted back into the net off the France keeper which would have changed the whole game, I thought Senegal’s attack was poor before Ibrahim Mbaye came on and ripped Theo Hernandez to shreds in them last 10 minutes including a brilliant goal. I hope we see Mbaye start the next two games as he looks an absolute superstar at 18 years of age, defensively I thought they done ok up until the first goal which was just pure magic from Olise and Mbappe, there’s very few defences in the world that’s going to keep them two at bay for 90 minutes. With the toughest game of the group out of the way Senegal will be hoping to get points against Iraq and Norway in the next two games which would have them in 2nd, that Norway game is going to be huge for this group, a hard one to call to be honest.
Kylian Mbappe becomes France’s all time top scorer. It was only a matter of time but Mbappe was always going to break Giroud’s record in this tournament and he’s now only two goals off equalling Miroslav Klose’s 17 goals as the World Cup all time top scorer, Mbappe is clearly already out to prove a point this tournament and with guys like Olise, Dembele and Doue behind him it’s scary to think how many goals he could score at this tournament. We can all talk about his performances at club level and that he’s never won the Champions League or Ballon d’Or but if he wins his second World Cup and breaks Klose’s record I don’t think you can really chat to him about achievements at club level, people can talk about Dembele but when it comes to France there’s absolutely no debate about who their best player is. A Champions League or Ballon d’Or doesn’t change a players ability on the pitch, who knows if Mbappe is the best player in this World Cup he might just win the Ballon d’Or.
Are France the best team we’ve seen so far? It’s hard to gauge but with Spain drawing with Cape Verde, Brazil drawing to Morocco and with Argentina, Portugal and England left to play I think it’s safe to say that France definitely are the favourites for the competition. Germany beat Curacao 7-1 but it’s hard to judge the strength of the Germans based on a game against a nation we know very little about, Senegal are coming off an AFCON win despite FIFA taking it off them and were swept aside in that second half by French brilliance. I’m looking forward to watching Argentina later on and if they can top this France performance, are we in for a Messi masterclass later on? I hope so.