France beat Iraq 3-0 to secure their qualification to the knockout stages of the 2026 World Cup.
Kylian Mbappe scored two of the goals, moving level with Miroslav Klose as the second-highest scorer in World Cup history. Ousmane Dembele completed the scoring midway through the second half, but there was another story dominating the match.
The second half was delayed for two hours due to adverse weather conditions, with a thunder and lightning storm covering the area. The win sets up a straight shootout with Norway for top spot in the group.
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France vs Iraq analysis:
France’s fluid 2-4-4
Didier Deschamps set his side up in a 2-4-4 on the ball, with both full-backs pushing in line with the double pivot. At the same time, the front four pushed on between Iraq’s midfield and defensive line.
France were fairly slow with their approach play, looking to move the ball from side to side and bait Iraq out of their 4-1-4-1 shape. This protected the centre nicely, particularly throughout the first half.
While France were unable to find as much central access as they would have liked, the full-backs low initial starting positions were effective.
They provided double width down the sides, pinning the wingers narrow originally giving the wide men service in one-on-ones. But they would then make runs to overlap, or underlap, and create optimal conditions.
France also looked to draw Iraq’s midfield forward with bodies dropping outside the block, as Manu Kone and Adrien Rabiot stayed low. Michael Olise, Dembele and Mbappe would then also rotate below the block, looking to drag Iraq’s midfielders out. This opened lanes to accelerate play through the middle.
While France’s 2-4-4 shape worked well to create some advantages on the ball, it was the off-ball advantages that were even more impressive.
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Rest defence strength
Deschamps’ setup gave France multiple rest-defence advantages in their 2-4-4 shape. The first was their two-on-one against Iraq’s lone striker.
Both William Saliba and Dayot Upamecano dealt with any outballs from Iraq nicely, allowing France to sustain pressure.
The full-backs’ positioning was another advantage to France’s rest defence structure. If one made a dynamic forward run, the other would tuck inside to create a 2-3 base.
Lucas Digne and Jules Kounde’s forward runs would also drag the wingers back in those two-on-two wide scenarios, extending the distance between them and the centre-forward to get out.
Mbappe ans Olise combination
The pairing of Mbappe and Olise is proving to be a massive problem for teams already at this World Cup. Particularly with Olise playing the last one and half matches behind Mbappe.
Despite starting France’s first game off the right, Olise was drifting deep to connect play, which has been further facilitated with Deschamps’ decision to switch him and Dembele.
With a central starting position, Olise is given license to drift and rotate with Dembele on the right. Mbappe then has a similar freedom to drop out into the left pocket zones, accelerating play in these moments to arrive inside or behind the opposition block.
As a result, when the ball was turned over by the opposition, Olise was in a central position to collect the ball quicker. He was the one to launch transitions with his passing and ball-carrying ability.
Dembele’s first-ever major tournament goal for France came from an instance like this. Olise collected the ball in a dangerous area centrally, before finding Dembele with the outside of his foot.
The Paris Saint-German man took it on his back foot, into his stride to finish with his second touch on his right.
Lightning strikes twice
The weather delay wasn’t the only lightning we saw in France’s game against Iraq. Mbappe netted twice to stay hot on Messi’s tail for the all-time World Cup goalscoring record.
Mbappe’s first goal was a real moment of magic, smashing it from just outside the box on his left foot into the far corner.
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Then came the second strike of lightning. Not from Mbappe’s boot, but instead from above, causing a two-hour delay.
But Mbappe came out with a point to prove second half. He looked lively from the restart before being gifted his second from a poor Iraq error, trying to play out from the back.
The 27-year-old was unlucky not to get his hat-trick, having a few more chances in the game, leaving him two goals behind Messi as things stand in the all-time goalscorers list.
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