{"id":173177,"date":"2026-06-23T05:01:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T05:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/173177\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T05:01:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T05:01:10","slug":"mbappe-scores-twice-to-lead-france-past-iraq-and-into-world-cup-knockout-stage-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/173177\/","title":{"rendered":"Mbapp\u00e9 scores twice to lead France past Iraq and into World Cup knockout stage"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHILADELPHIA (AP) \u2014 Neither rain, nor lightning, nor a swampy field \u2014 and certainly not overmatched Iraq \u2014 could stop Kylian Mbapp\u00e9.<\/a><\/p>\n

Yeah, it got a bit messy on the pitch.<\/p>\n

Weather aside, this game \u2014 as so many do for France \u2014 belonged to Mbapp\u00e9 as he tries to keep pace on the World Cup career goals list with new record holder Lionel Messi.<\/a><\/p>\n

Mbapp\u00e9<\/a> scored twice to move into a tie for second in World Cup<\/a> goals with 16, and France played through the tournament\u2019s first rain delay<\/a> to beat Iraq 3-0 on Monday and advance to the knockout stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m only thinking about helping my team,\u201d Mbapp\u00e9 said. \u201cBy helping my team, I score goals, and when you score goals, of course, you get closer to that kind of level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ballon d\u2019Or winner Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 also scored for Les Bleus, giving fans who stuck out a rainy night in Philadelphia a reason to cut loose.<\/p>\n

Mbapp\u00e9 scored in the 14th<\/a> and 54th minutes to cap a momentous and soggy 100th international appearance for one of the best players in the world. Fans of all ages wore his jersey, either walking around Philadelphia earlier in the afternoon or in the rows of seats at Lincoln Financial Field, which had a sellout crowd of 68,234.<\/p>\n

Mbapp\u00e9\u2019s first goal gave France a 1-0 lead at halftime, when heavy rain and an incoming thunderstorm prompted a delay of just over two hours. Grounds crews used squeegees to push water off the swampy Kentucky bluegrass at the home of the NFL\u2019s Philadelphia Eagles.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very difficult, because we had to stay focused, we had to stay engaged in the locker room,\u201d Mbapp\u00e9 said.<\/p>\n

Scoreboard messages directed the crowd to take shelter in the stadium\u2019s covered areas, warning that a severe storm was on the way. Sheets of rain continued to fall through halftime as fans wrapped themselves in ponchos and huddled in the concourse and under balconies.<\/p>\n

Iraq coach Graham Arnold wrestled with a poncho for a few seconds before he pulled it over his head and returned to the covered dugout. France fans who stayed in their seats in the last few covered rows of the top of the stadium waved the country\u2019s flag, and many splashed around the concourse to pass time.<\/p>\n

Others fled for the exits \u2014 at the same stadium where last season\u2019s Eagles opener was delayed 65 minutes<\/a> in the third quarter because of lightning \u2014 as the delay dragged on, giving overseas spectators a triple dose of American sports nuisances: rain delays, overpriced concessions<\/a> and TV timeouts in the form of hydration breaks.<\/a> There was no second-half hydration break in this game after the long, wet pause in the action.<\/p>\n

Playing in his third World Cup, the 27-year-old Mbapp\u00e9 matched Miroslav Klose of Germany on the goals list and moved one ahead of Brazil great Ronaldo.<\/p>\n

Messi scored twice for Argentina earlier Monday to set the tournament record at 18. He had equaled Klose with his first World Cup hat trick<\/a> in Argentina\u2019s 3-0<\/a> win over Algeria last Tuesday night in Kansas City, Missouri.<\/p>\n

Mbapp\u00e9 scored his third goal of the tournament with a left-footed strike \u2014 his supposed weaker foot \u2014 from the edge of the box that got past Iraq goalkeeper Ahmed Basil, who got his first start in the tournament after captain Jalal Hassan allowed all four goals in Iraq\u2019s 4-1 loss<\/a> to Norway.<\/p>\n

For his second goal, Mbapp\u00e9 took advantage of a poor pass<\/a> to the goalkeeper by Iraq defender Zaid Tahseen. Dembele controlled the loose ball and passed to Mbapp\u00e9, who tapped it in with his right foot.<\/p>\n

Mbapp\u00e9 had a chance at the hat trick on a late breakaway, but missed before he was subbed out at the 90-minute mark.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe can take Messi, he can take Ronaldo,\u201d France coach Didier Deschamps said. \u201cHe does have the capacity to up his ante.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mbapp\u00e9 helped France win the World Cup in 2018 and reach the final in 2022, when he was awarded the Silver Ball as the second-best player. Joined up front by D\u00e9sir\u00e9 Dou\u00e9 and Demb\u00e9l\u00e9, France entered this year\u2019s tournament as a co-favorite with Spain.<\/p>\n

France could return to Philadelphia to play Germany on July 4.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to try to analyze it in the coming days, see what we can improve, because I think there are two or three things we could have avoided,\u201d Mbapp\u00e9 said.<\/p>\n

Iraq striker Aymen Hussein was subbed out with an apparent injury in the 26th minute of the first half and replaced by Ali Al-Hamadi. Hussein scored his 34th international goal in Iraq\u2019s World Cup opener.<\/p>\n

Iraq is playing in the World Cup for just the second time after debuting in 1986.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP World Cup: https:\/\/apnews.com\/fifa-world-cup<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA (AP) \u2014 Neither rain, nor lightning, nor a swampy field \u2014 and certainly not overmatched Iraq \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":173178,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[14],"tags":[53250,19582,25555,2978,382,19556,537,94,20794,51444,37462,48762,53251,12097,25557,24705,1544,8162,2576,549,53252],"class_list":["post-173177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iraq","tag-ahmed-basil","tag-ali-al-hamadi","tag-didier-deschamps","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-france","tag-france-national-soccer-team","tag-germany","tag-iraq","tag-iraq-national-soccer-team","tag-jalal-hassan","tag-kansas-city","tag-lionel-messi","tag-miroslav-klose","tag-missouri","tag-ousmane-dembele","tag-pa-state-wire","tag-pennsylvania","tag-philadelphia","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-zaid-tahseen"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116797668478281231","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}