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Kylian Mbappe scored twice, including a late goal, as defending champions France beat Denmark 2-1 on Saturday to become the first team to reach the last 16 of the tournament. Globalism Glass.
A powerful French side knew their second win in as many Group D matches would take them to the knockout stage and they deserved the lead Mbappe gave them when he opened the scoring at Stade 974 on the hour mark.
However, Andreas Christensen soon equalized for the Danes and the French national team needed Mbappe to strike the ball again in the 86th minute when he converted Antoine Griezmann’s cross to definitively puncture the Danish resistance.
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Having scored four goals during France’s victorious 2018 campaign and one against Australia, Mbappe now has seven goals in nine World Cup appearances.
Didier Deschamps’ side now has the luxury of playing their final group stage match against Tunisia knowing that a draw will secure them top spot, and even defeat may not prevent them from finishing in first place.
Having come back strong to beat Australia 4-1 in their opening match in Qatar, France were more wasteful in front of goal on this occasion, but at least they didn’t fail against opponents who had caused them trouble before.
They were champions when a loss to the Danes knocked them out of the 2002 World Cup, while the two teams played their only goalless draw in 2018.
Most recently, Kasper Hjulmand’s side beat France home and away in this year’s Nations League, and Deschamps appeared to learn lessons from those two encounters.
If France were the usual shade in Copenhagen in September, they fared much better in this match, played in a pop-up stadium made of shipping containers on Doha’s waterfront.
Deschamps has changed three of his four players at the back, with Theo Hernandez at left-back in place of his injured older brother Lucas and Raphael Varane making his first appearance in over a month.
– Speed and power –
But the French attack was left untouched from the Australia match.
If Olivier Giroud grabbed the headlines, here Ousmane Dembele was sometimes strong on the right, Griezmann excelled in an advanced midfield role, and Mbappe made the difference.
France’s pace, power and passing were too intense for the Euro 2020 semi-finalists who were fortunate to level at half-time.
There were some French appeals for a red card in the 19th minute when Mbappe sent in a beautiful pass from Griezmann to be picked up by Christensen, but the Danish defender evaded the yellow ball.
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The hosts’ best chances of the first half came from the heads of Varane and Adrien Rabiot, but when Mbappe pulled away from Joachim Andersen just before the hour mark and raced wide, it was a sign that a goal was coming.
But Kasper Schmeichel missed his shot back and Griezmann missed a great chance shortly afterwards, but in the 61st minute Mbappe scored.
The Paris Saint-Germain star linked up brilliantly with Hernandez on the left and met his team-mate’s reduction with a shot that beat Schmeichel thanks to a deflection off Christensen.
Denmark had offered little but suddenly they restored parity midway through the second half when Andersen nodded in a corner and Kristensen headed the ball into the net.
Hugo Lloris was then forced into a key save to deny Jesper Lindstrom and Martin Braithwaite corner kicks as Denmark threatened to turn the whole game on its head.
That would have been very harsh on France, even if they could only blame themselves for not making more of their chances.
But Mbappe was not denied as he stole in front of Rasmus Christensen at the back post four minutes from time to meet Griezmann’s cross with his thigh for his 31st international goal.
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