France with Mbappe's double beat Sweden in the 1/16 finals of the 2026 World Cup

The big European national teams have already started pouring in at the very start of the playoffs of the 2026 World Cup, so the subsequent tournament grid will take on a look that few could have expected even after the end of the group stage. And in order not to repeat the sad experience of Germany and the Netherlands, the representatives of France had to do what was expected of them in the match against Sweden in the round of 16. But the weather in New York/New Jersey doesn't spare anyone these days, and if even at midnight in Ukraine there is a desire to hide somewhere in the refrigerator, one can only imagine what football players feel in the middle of a working day under the burning sun in an outdoor stadium. So it was not at all surprising that "Les Bleus" did not feel freshness in their own legs for the first 20 minutes of this match. But Barkol's moment in the 19th minute with a shot over the goal from the left wing of the free kick started a completely different trend. In short, before the attack, France did whatever it wanted with Sweden's defense until the very end of the first half. But, at least twice, Didier Deschamps' team was stopped by the posts of other people's goals on the way to a goal. In the latter of these cases, the framework deprived us of what was probably a potential contender for the Puskas Award in the form of a breath-taking over-the-top performance by Olise. And, of course, let's not forget the contribution of goalkeeper Zetterström to the fact that the "yellow and blue" did not get a crushing score during this period of the match. The French fought and fought and finally scored on 45 minutes when Mbappe took a corner from Dembele and Olisse on the left and spun a few more defenders inside the box before firing into the far corner. In general, there is no idea how the opponents should stop this variability in the attack. However, immediately after that, the Swedes had a fantastic moment with a rebound shot by Stroud in the right corner of the foreign goalkeeper, who launched the ball into the stands. But with such a course of events, a goal from Graham Potter's team, or even two - it is unlikely that it would have changed anything. France didn't stop at the start of the second half, and finally Olisse between the legs of Lagerbilke assisted Barkol into the center of the penalty area in the 53rd minute. Then Michael again tried to finally score the first goal of the tournament, but something always prevented him at the last moment, so he had to return to the work of the dispatcher, and Mbappe only let him receive comfortable timely passes in the penalty area of ​​others and stamp the next goals. In the 74th minute of this match, Lionel Messi again felt uneasy in the scoring race. The final whistle of the head referee of Venezuela, Danny Desmond McKelly, confirmed the exit of the national team of France to the 1/8 finals of the World Cup-2026, while for Sweden, the tournament path to the playoffs was cut off at the first step. France — Sweden 3:0 Goals: Mbappe, 45, 74, Barkola, 53 France: Meignan - Kunde (Giusto, 75), Upamecano, Saliba, Digne (T. Hernandez, 78) - Chuameni, Rabiot - Dembele (Duet, 75), Olisse (Sherky, 85), Barkola - Mbappe (Mateta, 84). Sweden: Zetterström - Lagerbilke, Lindelöf, Gudmundsson - Svensson (Svanberg, 82), Bergvall (Ali, 66), Ayari (Nujgren, 82), Stroud (Zeneli, 66) - Elanga, Isaac (Nilsson, 90) - Jokeres.