Could France do it on a hot, humid, waterlogged and lightning-threatened night in Pennsylvania? The answer was pretty straightforward. Despite an interruption of over two hours after a chain of severe thunderstorms disrupted play at Philadelphia Stadium, France brushed past the physical challenge of Iraq, and furthered Kylian Mbappé’s personal duel with Lionel Messi in the process.
The France captain got another two goals on the night, the first a rip-snorter from outside the box after a period of dominance, the second a tap in after disastrous defending from Iraq. Ousmane Dembélé got the third, his first goal at a major tournament, while Didier Deschamps, who had already made three changes to keep his side fresh, was also able to retire Dembélé and Michael Olise on the hour, preserving them for more taxing contests.
France opened the scoring in the way they know best; giving the ball to Mbappé and letting him do the rest. Admittedly it came about after 10 minutes of unrelenting pressure on the Iraq goal with defenders scrambling left and right to put out fires. The siege was such that Iraq couldn’t even move their defensive line beyond the six yard box, which was a problem, given Mbappé had drifted out to the 18 yard line.
After buildup down the right with Jules Koundé, the assist came from Olise. It didn’t require any creative genius this time, just a simple roll of the ball into Mbappé who took the ball out of his feet and immediately hit a venomous left-footed shot across goal. Iraq goalkeeper Ahmed Basil was able to get his fingertips to it but could do no more.
To say a goal had been coming would be an understatement and the minutes leading up to it had been hypnotic as France worked their passing angles. Iraq made it to the hydration break without conceding another, however, and an enforced substitution, with Ali al-Hamadi replacing injured captain Aymen Hussein, also worked to their benefit. Following the restart, al-Hamadi immediately connected with a Merchas Doski cross but his header skimmed wide of goal.
With 10 minutes remaining of the half, the inclement weather which had been forecast finally arrived. Philadelphia Stadium is almost entirely uncovered and there was a communal rush to pull on anoraks, but that quickly seemed insufficient for the conditions. When the half-time whistle blew, stadium announcers encouraged spectators to shelter indoors and, 10 minutes later, a delay to the restart was confirmed.
What nobody in the ground knew at that time was that this was just the start. A heavy storm passed, then another came over the ground and it wasn’t until an hour and a half later that news of a potential restart began to circulate and bedraggled coaching staff began sticking training cones on the pitch ahead of a second warm-up for the players.
Play eventually restarted two hours and 11 minutes after it had finished, with the stadium – and the Iraqi fans in particular - in a durably festive mood. Perhaps this was caused by the breaking news that there would be no hydration break in the second half thanks to the delay, but the chants of “Iraq, Iraq, Iraq” that greeted the restart were subdued within 10 minutes, as France took advantage of terrible defending to double their lead.
It was all Zaid Tahseen’s fault, the defender taking a goal-kick in the modern style, but overhitting the pass to his keeper. Basil got a toe to the ball but that only turned it into the path of the onrushing Dembélé, who passed immediately to Mbappé who finished with ease. This was Mbappé’s fourth goal of the tournament, which put him one behind Messi in the race for the Golden Boot and two behind the Argentinian in their exclusive competition to become the highest scorer in World Cup history.
Just like that the contest was up and in a manner that will have proven incredibly frustrating to Iraq and their substantial support. The compensation for those watching was that France began to play with more freedom and within minutes Olise had delicately lofted the ball onto the Iraqi crossbar and Dembelé had seen a good effort across goal well saved by Basil. In the 66th minute the pair combined for the third, Olise spinning two Iraqi defenders at the top of the D before slipping in Dembélé on the right side to score with a low first-time shot across goal.
At this point Deschamps had seen enough and withdrew both players only to unleash Desiré Doué and Rayan Cherki. Mbappé stayed on, continuing to battle (he even disrupted a counterattack to much celebration amongst French fans) and seeking more goals. He finally came off in added time to applause from around the ground.