France dominated in their Round of 23 match against Sweden in the FIFA World Cup on Matchday 19, a day that also saw Norway and tournament co-hosts, Mexico, get through to the next round.
The French, reunited with their head coach, Didier Deschamps, who had left the team to attend his mother’s funeral, showed why they have earned their favourite status with an emphatic 3-0 win over their Scandinavian opponents.
Mexico and Ecuador ended the day with a delayed game due to excessive weather and lightning. But when they got started, the frenzied crowd at the Mexico City Stadium got behind their team and fuelled them in a commanding win.
Côte d’Ivoire 1 – 2 Norway
Neither side made much of the opening 20 minutes of the match. Much of it was played in the midfield with teams fighting, moving between probing attacks and quick recoveries.
Côte d’Ivoire looked the most progressive in moving forward. They outpaced Norway in touches inside the box, but they were unable to pose many questions of Ørjan Håskjold Nyland, situated in Norway’s goal.
Norway’s breakthrough came in the 39th minute. Martin Ødegaard came through the middle and passed to his left, finding Antonio Nusa moving near the corner of the box.
Nusa had time to pick his shot, and he did to spectacular effect, curling the ball around Yahia Fofana, Côte d’Ivoire’s keeper, into the far corner.
Norway had a couple of other chances before the half ended, but they just did not have the final touch. Côte d’Ivoire would argue they had the better half, but Norway’s five-minute flurry at the half had them leading as both teams headed into their dressing rooms.
Côte d’Ivoire pushed in the second half, looking for the equalizer. In the 55th minute, Torbjørn Heggem’s blocked shot found its way to Nicolas Pépé. However, Pépé was unable to get the ball on target.
But for all of Côte d’Ivoire’s control, it was Norway that jumped up with a brilliant chance in the 67th minute.
Heggem got a strong shot away on the second phase of a corner, but it was saved on the line by a defender. The effort kept Côte d’Ivoire in the match, but ever-aware of the danger Norway represented.
Côte d’Ivoire found its equalizer in the 74th minute. Amad Diallo received the ball as he entered the 18-yard box on the right, but he still had work to do as he skipped around defenders, moved deeper and unleashed a shot that got past Nyland.
Erling Haaland picked that moment to step up with a cheeky goal in the 86th minute.
Oscar Bobb laid a beautiful pass up to Patrick Berg, who crossed it over to Haaland. From there, it was simply a pass into the back of the net to put Norway up by one late in the game.
Norway held on in the final minutes with the award of a round of 16 match booked against Brazil.
France 3 – 0 Sweden
France came out of the tunnel as the clear favourites in this match. In the opening minutes, their domination on the ball, their chances on goal and their defensive play showed them worthy of that moniker.
Kylian Mbappé believed he had the opening goal in the 20th minute. But as the French striker beat the Swedish keeper, Jacob Widell Zetterström, the linesman’s flag went up for offside.
Mbappé attempted to create a chance for Adrien Rabiot in the 30th minute. But Zetterström was again up to the task, throwing out a leg to save it.
A couple of minutes later, Mbappé rang a near-range shot off the post. Zetterström was beaten, but the woodwork decided to play on Sweden’s side.
France continued their onslaught with quality chances from Michael Olise, Ousmane Dembélé and more from Mbappé, even hitting the other post, but Sweden had luck on their side to have the score remain at nil-nil.
But Sweden’s luck was not sustainable. Mbappé put France on the scoreboard in the 45th minute.
A brilliant moment of footwork and trickery, Mbappé move into through defenders, finding space on the edge of the 6-yard box and curling in a shot by the far post.
France were well-deserving of their lead at the half, but Sweden would count themselves lucky it was not by more.
The second half did not stop France. They added a second in the 53rd minute, a contribution from Bradley Barcola.
The pass from Olise cut through Swedish lines to find Barcola, and the attacker put it beyond the reach of Zetterström.
France had further chances through their main attacking players, but Zetterström stayed tall in his attempt to limit the World Cup favourites from running up the score.
But for Zetterström’s desire, nothing could stop Mbappé. He bagged his brace in the 74th minute.
Olise’s pass through the defensive line found the attacking moving behind the defence from the left. Once Mbappé latched onto it, it was always heading for goal.
Sweden had a few moments in the final minutes, but nothing that truly threatened France’s clean sheet. France’s win felt inevitable as they took the match 3-0 over Sweden.
Mexico – Ecuador
Playing in front of a home crowd in Mexico City, El Tri were electric from the first whistle. Ecuador was forced to withstand the storm of the first 10 minutes, hoping that the co-host nation would quiet enough to allow them to grow into the game.
But Mexico kept coming, fuelled by the crowd in the stands. And the players rewarded their drenched fans in the 22nd minute.
Roberto Alvarado found a channel through the Ecuadorian defence and played an excellent ball to Julián Quiñones, who had raced in behind them. The Mexican attack cut into the box and blasted a shot past Ecuador’s keeper, Hernán Galíndez.
Raul Jiménez added another in the 31st minute, picking up on a significant Ecuadorian defensive lapse.
Jiménez jumped on the ball, played the 1-2 passing sequence with Quiñones as he moved into central space, and fired a shot into the Ecuadorian net.
John Yeboah tested Raúl Rangel with a decent chance in the 40th minute, Ecuador’s best opportunity of the first half. But the goalkeeper was up to the task, parrying the ball out for a corner.
Mexico was content to sit back in the second half. Ecuador continued to have difficulty moving forward into dangerous positions, even with their increased possession.
In fact, Mexico still had the better chances of the half. A couple of free headers in the box off set pieces exposed Ecuador’s defence as they made substitutions to try and find an attacking threat.
But that threat was easily mitigated by a stifling Mexican back line that limited Ecuador’s touches inside the box to only two in the second half as the teams entered the hydration break.
Kevin Rodríguez had a moment for Ecuador in the 75th minute. A long ball overhead was brought down by Rodriguez between defenders.
As he brought it under control, Rangel came out of his net to challenge. Rodriguez tried to toe-poke it into the net, but it went wide as the two crashed.
It seemed as though Mexico fell into complacency as the second half wore on. Ecuador looked for opportunities, but they could not manage a shot on target.
The night went from bad to worse for Ecuador when Piero Hincapié was handed a straight red card in stoppage time for covering his mouth during a confrontation.
From there, it was simply Mexico riding the match out to the whistle. The win made it four clean sheets and only their second win in a knockout stage in a World Cup in their history.
Up next
Tomorrow begins with England playing DR Congo, followed by Belgium taking on Senegal.
The day ends with the USA facing Bosnia & Herzegovina.
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