Mbappe Double Sends France into Knockout Rounds After Lengthy Weather Delay

Kylian Mbappe scored twice and Ousmane Dembele added a third as France secured a 3-0 victory over Iraq on Monday, advancing to the World Cup round of 32 in a match severely disrupted by a weather delay.

Mbappe’s goals, marking his 100th international appearance, came nearly three hours apart after thunderstorms delayed the second half by almost two hours.

"The first half was good," said France manager Didier Deschamps. "We picked up where we left off, which wasn't easy given the delay, and managed to secure the win. That's a very good thing."

With these goals, Mbappe reached 16 all-time World Cup goals, tying Germany's Miroslav Klose. Earlier on Monday, Argentina's Lionel Messi set a new record of 18 World Cup goals after scoring twice in a 2-0 win over Austria. Mbappe's four tournament goals place him one behind Messi in the 2026 Golden Boot race.

Reigning Ballon d’Or winner Dembele scored France's third goal. France will next face Norway on Saturday to decide the Group I winner. Norway recently beat Senegal 3-2 to tie France on points.

Deschamps also defended Dembele against recent criticism. "I have complete faith in him," Deschamps noted. "His role here is different from his club, and he is still finding his rhythm."

Iraq's hopes of advancing now rely on securing one of the eight third-place spots. They need a win in their final group match against Senegal and favorable results elsewhere. Iraq may also be missing key forward Aymen Hussein, who left Monday's game with an injury in the 26th minute.

Ali Al-Hamadi, who replaced Hussein, acknowledged the difficulty of the match conditions. "It's hard to keep the same intensity after waiting an hour and a half against world-class players. We made too many mistakes," he said.

France dominated early, with Mbappe scoring in the 14th minute. After receiving a pass from Michael Olise, he fired a powerful strike from the edge of the box past goalkeeper Ahmed Basil.

Rather than helping Iraq regroup, the weather delay preceded a defensive collapse. In the 54th minute, Basil failed to control a short goal-kick from defender Zaid Tahseen. Dembele quickly capitalized, setting up Mbappe for an easy tap-in. Dembele scored his own goal 12 minutes later, finishing low past Basil after another precise pass from Olise.

The severe weather provided much of the day's drama. After referee Drew Fischer blew the halftime whistle, heavy rain forced spectators to seek shelter. Players returned to warm up nearly 100 minutes later, but the restart was delayed further as stadium personnel used squeegees to clear standing water from the pitch.