2026 World Cup: France Races to 200: Olise Sets It Up and Mbappé Scores Two More; Sweden Annihilated
With a solid overall performance and taking very few risks, France overcame Sweden’s resistance, defeating them 3-0 in the Round of 16 match of the 2026 World Cup played at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The French will face Paraguay (who knocked out Germany) in the Round of 16, scheduled for Saturday, July 4, at 11:00 p.m. Italian time at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
After a tentative opening phase, Les Bleus shifted gears following the first hydration break and caused more than a few headaches for a defense that, in its three group-stage matches, had already proven less than reliable, conceding as many as seven goals. The first dangerous moments came from Mbappé, who hit the post in the 32nd minute; Olise met the same fate in the 36th minute with a spectacular bicycle kick that, however, failed to result in the opening goal. The goal came in the 42nd minute: a splendid give-and-go between Olise and Dembelé set up Mbappé, who fired a right-footed shot past Widell Zetterstrom to make it 1-0.
Mbappé, who had previously had a goal disallowed for offside when the score was 0-0, continued to cover ground with the ball at his feet, and one of his runs led to the play that made it 2-0 in the 53rd minute: the ball goes to Olise, who sets up Barcola in the box; the PSG player keeps his cool and doubles the lead. In the 74th minute came the coup de grâce, once again courtesy of Mbappé: the Real Madrid star received a pass from Olise just on the offside line and scored with relative ease to make it 3-0, bringing his tally to 6 in the scoring standings.
The final stages of the match allowed Didier Deschamps (back on the bench after a family bereavement) to give Koundé, Dembelé, Digne, Mbappé, and Olise, who were replaced respectively by Malo Gusto, Doué, Theo Hernandez, Mateta, and Cherki. On the other side, there was little to nothing: with the score at 2-0, Ali and Zeneli had already left the field, replaced by Stroud and Bergvall; with the outcome decided, Potter gave playing time to Svanberg and Nygren, who came on for Svensson and Ayari.
France thus wins 3-0, continuing its World Cup run and advancing to at least the round of 16 for the fourth consecutive World Cup. For Sweden, however, this marks the end of a tournament in which only the match against Tunisia—by far the worst team in this World Cup—ended in a victory: since their historic third-place finish at USA ’94, the Tre Kronor have never come close to similar results, reaching the quarterfinals only once, in 2018.
