Holders France beat Poland 3-1 at Al-Thumama Stadium on Sunday to reach the quarter-finals of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Olivier Giroud opened the scoring (44), becoming the top scorer in his country’s history with 52 goals, before Kylian Mbappe added a fine brace (74 and 90+1).
Poland’s top scorer, Robert Lewandowski, responded with an honorable penalty kick on his second attempt (90+9 from a spot kick).
The roosters presented a strong game that erased the memory of the sudden defeat against Tunisia in the last matches of the group stage, and the team’s strong attack missed several goals that could have doubled the final result.
Mbappé and his companions Dembele, Griezmann, Jiro, Theo Hernandez and Lloris also appeared able to achieve an historic goal by winning the World Cup for the second consecutive time.
Since Brazil won the 1958 World Cup in Sweden and then the 1962 World Cup in Chile, no team has managed to win the most famous tournament twice in a row.
France will meet in the quarterfinals next Saturday with the winner of the England-Senegal match, which will subsequently be played at the Al-Bayt stadium in the city of Al-Khor.
Jiro scored just before the break from a pass from Mbappé to take his tally to 52 goals for France and become his country’s historic goalscorer, one goal behind Thierry Henry.
France continued their attacking pressure in the second half and Giroud almost scored from Jules Conde’s cross, but shot wide.
Mbappe scored the second goal with a massive shot from inside the penalty area, close range in the 74th minute, then added a goal with another fantastic strike into the top corner in the first minute of added time.
Mbappe took his tally to five goals in the 2002 World Cup top scorer, while his total points reached 8 goals in two participations.
Poland striker Robert Lewandowski fired one back from a penalty in the ninth minute of stoppage time, after taking advantage of the return of the kick which had missed early on due to early movement by France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
