Olise and Mbappé Dismantle Sweden to Keep France Rolling
- Philip Fox
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Credit Opta Analyst
NATIONAL SOCCER NEWS: www.nationalsoccernetwork.com
Les Bleus faced a strong Swedish side in the first round of the knockouts.
Sweden had reached the knockout stages after dismantling Tunisia 5-1 in the first match of the group stage and drawing with Japan in their third match. France had blown through Group I like it was a nice walk in the park.
France and Sweden battled it out in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the beautiful 90-degree sun, and in front of a crowd of more than 80,000 fans.
Sweden started in a 4-4-2 formation under English manager Graham Potter. Starting in goal was Jacob Widell Zetterström. The four defenders were Daniel Svensson at right back, Gustaf Lagerbielke and captain Victor Nilsson Lindelöf at center back, and Gabriel Gudmundsson at left back. Sweden's starting midfield consisted of Anthony Elanga at right mid, Lucas Bergvall and Yasin Ayari as the center mids, and Elliot Stroud at left mid. Blågult started with the Premier League striking duo of Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyökeres.
France started in a 4-2-3-1 formation under French manager Didier Deschamps. Mike Maignan started in goal. The defensive four had Jules Koundé at right back, Dayot Upamecano and William Saliba as the center-back duo, and Lucas Digne at left back. The French defensive midfielders were Aurélien Tchouaméni and Adrien Rabiot. In the attacking midfield, Ousmane Dembélé started on the right wing, Michael Olise in attacking midfield, and Bradley Barcola on the left wing. Sitting at the top in the striker position was captain Kylian Mbappé.
The first 20 minutes were a back-and-forth affair with Sweden. Sweden got some nice shots on goal, but from distance, and France cut inside but did not find the back of the net. In the 20th minute, France got a superb through ball through the center to Captain Kylian Mbappé, who was waiting to pounce and got the ball in the back of the net, but the linesman called the ball offside.
The first goal came from Mbappé right before the end of the first half after some beautiful footwork to pass up two defenders and curl in a right-footed beauty!
Sweden ended the half with some good momentum, but to no avail. The first half ended with France possessing the ball 71% of the time, taking 15 shots in total, six on goal, while Sweden took only three shots, one on goal.
The second half started much more quickly for the French. In the 53rd minute, Olise found the perfect nutmeg pass to Barcola. The Champions League winner took a touch to set himself and buried his shot in the back of the net. The French now led 2-0.
The final nail in the coffin for the Swedes came in the 74th minute when none other than Mbappé scored. But this move wouldn't have happened if it weren't for now tournament-leading assist leader Olise. Olise threaded the eye of a needle with his pass to Mbappé, who stayed onside this time and finished with another beautifully bent ball that would even have made Beckham smile.
Sweden pushed for a consolation goal, but were unable to find the back of the net before the 90 minutes were up. The game ended with France holding 61% possession and taking 25 total shots—12 on target. Sweden took only eight shots, and of those, three were on target.
While Sweden packed their bags to go home, France packed their bags to go to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where they will face Paraguay, who were coming off a massive upset against a powerful German squad. Paraguay will face France at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time on July 4th.
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