PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Kylian Mbappé scored his second double of the tournament and Ousmane Dembélé added a third as France eased into the round of 32 with a 3-0 victory over Iraq on Monday in the first match of this World Cup plagued by a lengthy weather stoppage.
Mbappé’s goals, in his 100th appearance for the national team, came almost three hours apart after thunderstorms in the region delayed kick-off of the second half by just under two hours.
“The first half was good,” said France coach Didier Deschamps. “In the second half we continued where we left off, considering it wasn’t easy considering what happened, and we managed to put the game out of reach. That’s a very good thing.”
Mbappé now has 16 goals in World Cup history, equaling former German record holder Miroslav Klose.
Earlier on Monday, Lionel Messi set a new World Cup record of 18 goals with a brace in Argentina’s 2-0 victory over Austria.
Mbappé’s four goals also put him one behind Messi in the race for the 2026 World Cup Golden Boot.
Reigning Ballon d’Or winner Dembélé scored after halftime for two-time champions France, who face Norway on Saturday with top spot in Group I on the line. The Norwegians beat Senegal 3-2 on Monday and moved level with the French on three points.
Dembele had faced criticism for what some considered a poor performance in France’s opening 3-1 win over Senegal.
“There is no problem,” Deschamps said. “Ousmane has confidence in himself. Sometimes he can make people talk, but I have complete faith in him. He is still finding his bearings because his role is different from the one he plays at his club.”
Iraq remains alive for one of the eight third-place spots.
They will probably need a win in their final group game against Senegal and help elsewhere. They could be without Aymen Hussein, who scored in the opening 4-1 loss to Norway but left in the 26th minute on Monday with an apparent injury.
Mbappé’s moment of excellence
“There is a moment of excellence from one of the best players in the world,” said Ali Al-Hamadi, who replaced Hussein.
“And then we have to go in and wait an hour and a half. You know, it’s really difficult to go out and maintain the same intensity against these great players. And in the end I think we made too many mistakes again,” he added.
France dominated the early stages and Mbappé capitalized in the 14th minute.
After an innocent sequence on the right, the striker received a pass from Michael Olise, took a touch to his left and, with defenders giving him space, unleashed a powerful shot from the edge of the area that beat Ahmed Basil’s dive.
The weather delay could have served as a recovery period for Iraq, which spent most of the first half chasing the ball. Instead, they gifted France and Mbappé a second in the 54th minute after a terrible mistake on a goal kick.
Basil was unable to control a short goal kick from defender Zaid Tahseen and Dembélé was on hand to set up Mbappé’s simple tap-in. Dembélé scored himself 12 minutes later after controlling Olise’s incisive pass and firing low past Basil.
Since the outcome was never really in doubt, the weather provided most of the drama.
After referee Drew Fischer whistled for half-time, as the storms were already beginning, the skies opened up even more and spectators were asked to seek shelter on the stadium concourses.
The players finally came back out for warmups about an hour and 40 minutes later, and even then the restart was further delayed as stadium staff used squeegees to remove standing water from the east side of the field.
