France reached the quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup 2022 after beating Poland 3-1 at the Al Thumama Stadium on Sunday. Olivier Giroud opened the scoring at half-time in Doha before Kylian Mbappe scored a second-half double to put Didier Deschamps’ side through.
Robert Lewandowski made sure the Frenchman conceded a goal in every game for Qatar, scoring a penalty on his second attempt. However, that wasn’t enough to dampen the optimism surrounding a French team that is really starting to hit the ground running.
Olivier Giroud’s goals make him the Blues’ all-time top scorer with 52 goals, while Mbappe is on the verge of double figures for World Cup goals after scoring twice in his latest effort. The wait to find out their quarter-final fate won’t be long, either for England or England. Senegal will kick off at 2 p.m. ET.
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“It’s not easy because this Polish team is in very good shape,” Deschamps said shortly after the final whistle. “However, we always have the ability to find a way out. With Kylian, he has the ability to solve a lot of problems, which is great for us. We were united from the beginning and obviously going to the quarter-finals is very good. We share Happy. We have more time now so we will spend some time with our loved ones and family – as planned.”
A tense first half at the Al Thumama Stadium, with Hugo Lloris’ brilliant save stopping Piotr Zielinski and some last-minute defense to stop Poland. Giroud then gave up a great chance to score his 52nd goal for his country when Ousmane Dembele’s ball went over the net too fast for Giroud to score.
The AC Milan man finally scored as Kylian Mbappe set him up for the goal that lifted him past Thierry Henry at the top of the table. Lloris nearly lost the lead when he conceded the ball moments later, but it was snuffed out before Jakub Kaminski could react.
Poland were as good as they could get in the first half as France really took control of the game in the second 45 minutes. Wojciech Szczesny was lucky to be judged the victim of a foul by Raphael Varane, which perhaps should have been disallowed by a France penalty or Giroud’s stunt-like effort.
Luckily for Jakub Kiwior, a penalty was not awarded for a foul on Mbappe inside the box. However, Poland’s luck ended minutes later as the Paris Saint-Germain man scored a killer second goal.
Dembele set up Mbappe to head the ball past Szczesny into the net and the Eagles’ resistance had completed their quarter-final berth.
The Pole had time to save a consolation goal through Lewandowski after Dayot Upamecano was adjudged to have handled the ball through VAR. Lloris initially saved from the Barcelona man but the penalty was ordered to be retaken and converted on the second attempt.
France moved on, while Poland withdrew after doing well for themselves after a surprise promotion to Group C. Deschamps’ side are not perfect, but they are growing in this tournament like they did in 2018, which is an ominous sign for their competition.