DOHA: Defending champions France continued their dominating campaign in the ongoing FIFA World Cup 2022 as they edged spirited Denmark 2-1 to make it to the Round of 16 with one group match to spare.
Star footballer Kylian Mbappe netted twice in France’s hard-fought victory over Denmark that powered them to become the first side to qualify for the Round of 16.
Mbappe was again the star of an important clash for France as his match-winning 86th-minute goal steered them to claim a second consecutive victory.
Denmark put up a decent fight in the first half as their defence stood up to bar French strikers to fire a breakthrough and the scoreboard remained clean until the first half.
Theo Hernandez high-pressed on Denmark as he charged up the pitch on the left side before feeding it to Mbappe, who carried the ball brilliantly to the edge of the area and the former continued his run to provide an option for a one-two pass that allowed Mbappe to dispatch a tricky short.
Denmark, however, took just seven minutes to draw level as Andreas Christensen converted a risky corner into an equalizer courtesy of a well-judged header.
Les Bleus then needed Mbappe to produce a tie-breaker and he did so in time as he turned in Antoine Griezmann’s cross to put Denmark’s resistance to rest and allowed his side to avoid a stalemate.
Following his double against Denmark, Mbappe became only the second French player to score in three consecutive world cup games. He now has seven world cup goals in nine appearances for France.
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