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France forward Kylian Mbappe celebrated his 100th international appearance in style on Monday, scoring twice as France secured a comfortable 3-0 victory over Iraq in a World Cup group-stage match that was interrupted for more than two hours by severe weather.
The match in Philadelphia was suspended at half-time after a powerful storm swept through the city, forcing thousands of spectators to leave their seats and seek shelter inside the stadium. Play eventually resumed more than two hours later in line with United States weather safety protocols.
Before the delay, Mbappe had already put France ahead in the 14th minute with a long-range effort that beat Iraqi goalkeeper Ahmed Basil. The French captain later doubled his tally shortly after the restart, while reigning Ballon d’Or holder Ousmane Dembélé added a third goal to seal victory for the tournament favourites.
The brace took Mbappe’s World Cup tally to 16 goals, moving him closer to the tournament’s all-time leading scorers and continuing his prolific form after also scoring twice in France’s opening win over Senegal.
The 27-year-old Real Madrid star, who recently became France’s all-time leading goalscorer, now has 60 goals in 100 appearances for the national team.
Mbappe is now level on the all-time list of World Cup goals with Germany’s Miroslav Klose, who started the tournament as the all-time leading scorer.
He has overtaken the 15 goals scored by the Brazilian Ronaldo and seems set for a shoot-out at this year’s World Cup with Messi.
France’s second goal came after a costly defensive error by Iraq. A misplaced goal-kick allowed Dembele to set up Mbappe for a simple finish, before Dembele later got on the scoresheet himself after being assisted by Michael Olise.
The victory means France have secured back-to-back wins in Group I and are already assured of a place in the knockout stage ahead of their next fixture against Norway.
For Iraq, the defeat compounded their difficult start to the tournament after an earlier loss to Norway, leaving them facing an early exit from the competition. Their captain, Aymen Hussein, was forced off with an injury in the first half.
The weather delay marked the first World Cup match in the United States to be disrupted by severe weather during the tournament.
Next up for Mbappe and France is a meeting with Erling Haaland’s Norway in Boston on Friday, but the 2022 beaten finalists are already certain of reaching the last 32 after notching two wins from two games in Group I.
