Les Blues march on to the quarter finals after a dominant 3-1 win
France won 3-1 against Poland in the round of 16 match held at Al Thumama Stadium thanks to a goal from Olivier Giroud and a brace from Kylian Mbappe.
Just before the half hour mark, Giroud missed a glorious opportunity to put Les Blues ahead as he missed one from close range. With 37 minutes gone, Poland too had a chance to take a lead but French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris saved a shot from Piotr Zelenski before he was blocked by Theo Hernandez. Just seconds later, Raphael Varane made a goal line clearance. France opened the scoring in the 44rd minute with Giroud getting on the scoresheet. With this strike, he overtook Thierry Henry to become France's all time leading goalscorer (52).
The second half saw Kylian Mbappe get on the goalscoring act as he found himself in lots of space to fire one into the top left corner in the 74th minute. He added another one in stoppage time with an equally beautiful hit, this time into the top right corner. The Frenchman has now surpassed the great Pele in scoring the most number of World Cup goals before the age of 24. Poland scored a consolation goal through Robert Lewandowski's penalty after Dayot Upamecano handled the ball inside the box, but it proved to be nothing more than just that, a consolation.
Les Blues made it to their third straight quarterfinal appearance at the World Cup, where they will face England (who beat Senegal) on 10th December. Meanwhile having been eliminated, Poland will now turn their attention to UEFA Euro 2024 qualification as their next fixture will be against Czech Republic in March 2023.