France 3-0 Iraq: Le Bleus cruise into knockouts two-hour weather delay | OneFootball

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France secured their spot in the round of 32 this evening, with a comfortable win against Iraq, despite a two hour delay due to severe weather conditions.

Kylian Mbappé marked his 100th international cap with an early thunderbolt from the edge of the box to open the scoring after just 13 minutes. The forward doubled his tally early in the second half when he pounced upon a mistake from the Iraq goalkeeper.

Ousmane Dembélé netted his first goal at an international major tournament in the 66th minute when he picked out the bottom corner for France’s third goal.

This match was the first at this World Cup to experience a weather delay, with half-time transpiring to be over two hours long due to lightning strikes in the surrounding area to the stadium.

As it happened

Didier Deschamps made three changes to his France side for this clash, with Aurélian Tchouaméni, Theo Hernández and Désiré Doué replaced by Bradley Barcola, Lucas Digne and Kouadio Koné.

Graham Arnold also made a trio of changes, with Ahmed Basil Fadhil, Zidaane Iqbal and Ibrahim Bayesh replacing Ali Al Hamadi, Ali Jasim and Jalal Hassan following their 4-1 defeat to Norway last time out.

Mbappé almost found the net inside the first minute, but his outstretched boot was unable to reach Koné’s pass. The first yellow card of the match was shown to Amir Al-Ammari in the fifth minute, after he took down Mbappé to halt a dangerous French attack.

The onslaught continued from France, but to no avail just yet, with Mbappé and Michael Olise failing to find the target with volleyed efforts.

They got their opening goal courtesy of Mbappé in the 13th minute, who unleashed a thunderous left-footed strike into the far corner from just outside the penalty area to give his side an early lead.

Iraq made a change during the hydration break, which saw Aymen Hussain, who appeared injured, replaced by Al Hamadi inside the first half an hour. Al Hamadi came close to making an immediate impact off the bench, but he was unable to find the target with a header.

Mbappé got on the half-turn in the 39th minute and tried to catch the keeper off his line from distance, but his shot flew well over the crossbar.

The Frenchman came flying forwards again moments later, dancing through the Iraqi defence before Hussein Ali made a brilliant last-ditch tackle inside the area.

Iraq won a free-kick in a dangerous area as they hoped to find an equaliser before the break; however, the threat was well dealt with by the French defence, meaning they held on to their 1-0 lead at half-time.

As previously mentioned, half-time was over two hours long due to severe adverse weather delaying the restart. The game eventually got back underway at 1:00am BST…three hours after its initial kick-off.

However, the good news was that they scrapped the second-half’s hydration break due to the delay.

It didn’t take long for Mbappé to double his tally for the night, when Dembélé pounced upon a mistake from Fadhil before squaring it for the centre forward to tap into an empty net.

Olise almost added a third moments later, but his looping effort rebounded off the crossbar before being cleared away.

Adrien Rabiot missed a guilt-edged opportunity to find the net shortly before the hour mark, heading wide from inside the six-yard box. Further changes followed for Iraq, who replaced Zaid Ismael and Zaid Tahseen with Yousseff Amyn and Rebin Sulaka.

Dembélé got on the scoresheet himself in the 66th minute, finally scoring his first goal at a major international tournament when he broke free and fired into the bottom corner from inside the area following a lovely ball through from Olise.

A double change followed for France, which saw Olise and Dembélé replaced by Doué and Rayan Cherki. Meanwhile, Aimar Sher and Marko Lawk Farji replaced Al-Ammari and Bayesh for Iraq. The Lions of Mesopotamia looked to try and get themselves a lifeline.

However, Sulaka could only fire over the bar. They came even closer moments later, but Al Hamadi’s stretching effort dribbled wide.

Mbappé had a penalty appeal waved away by the referee with 10 minutes of regular time remaining, before firing wide of the post mere moments later. Barcola was next up to try and add a fourth for Les Bleus.

However, his cut back was deflected behind for a corner, which France were unable to make the most of.

Two further changes followed from Deschamps, who introduced Malo Gusto and Maghnes Akliouche in place of Jules Koundé and Barcola. Mbappé almost completed his hat-trick in the final minutes of the 90, but his tame effort was held by Fadhil.

The forward came even closer a few moments later when his rapid pace sent him in behind the Iraqi defence, but he could only fire high and wide before being replaced by Marcus Thuram to a standing ovation.

That was all she wrote in a strange old night for the tournament, given the lengthy break between the two halves. However, France secure a crucial three points and their spot in the knockout rounds.

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France – Iraq Live Score