Kylian Mbappé Chases History as France Prepares for Paraguay
Kylian Mbappé is hunting history, but he’s chasing a date, not a number.
The France captain walked off in Philadelphia on Tuesday night with two more World Cup goals to his name and Sweden in ruins, beaten 3-0 in the round of 32. That brace pushed him to 18 goals in 18 World Cup games, just one behind Lionel Messi’s all-time record of 19 and level with the Argentine on six strikes at this tournament.
Yet when Mbappé spoke, the record barely featured.
“The goal is to go as far as possible – to make it to July 19th and come back here,” he said, eyes fixed on the final in New York rather than the scoring charts.
He knows how the numbers work. Score more, climb higher. But he also knows Messi is not done yet, and he refused to let the chase define him.
“I’m also convinced that Leo is going to score more goals, so I don’t focus too much on that. I’m more focused on the opponents we might face and how close we’re getting to our goal: the final.”
Messi and Argentina will expect to swell their own tally against Cape Verde in the last 32 on Friday. France’s path looks trickier, and more treacherous, after what this World Cup has already served up.
France brace for Paraguay’s wall
Next for Les Bleus is Paraguay in Philadelphia on Saturday, a last-16 tie that carries a clear warning label. Germany ignored it and are already on the plane home.
Paraguay dragged the four-time champions into a trench war on Monday, defended deep, soaked up pressure and then held their nerve from the spot to pull off one of the shocks of the tournament. There is no sense they will suddenly open up for Mbappé and company.
Mbappé knows it.
“I think we’ll keep working between now and the Paraguay match to see what we can improve, because there are still some sequences that aren't quite clear enough, there’s room for improvement,” he said.
The message was calm, but not complacent. France looked fluent and ruthless against Sweden, yet the forward insisted the standard has to rise again.
“Still, I think it’s positive overall, and our ability to score goals means we always have the chance to take the lead in matches.”
That ability, combined with a dressing room that rallied around Didier Deschamps after the recent death of his mother, has given France’s campaign a powerful emotional core. When Mbappé scored against Sweden, the players ran straight to their coach. It was a brief moment, but it said plenty.
“We are all together,” Mbappé told beIN Sports. “We know the coach has been through a difficult experience… it’s very hard.”
The football, though, has been anything but heavy. France’s attack looked sumptuous on Tuesday, their star forward gliding through the tournament while insisting his real obsession lies 18 days down the road.
Belgium step out of the shadows – and into danger
Elsewhere, another European heavyweight is trying to write a different World Cup story.
Belgium’s “golden generation” has already known both the peak and the fall – a third-place finish in Russia in 2018, then a dismal group-stage exit in Qatar in 2022. This time, at least, they have cleared the first hurdle.
A 5-1 demolition of New Zealand on Friday night sealed top spot in Group G and ticked off coach Rudi Garcia’s first objective.
“We wanted to finish first in the group stage and we succeeded,” Garcia said. Belgium did it with one win and two draws, not exactly a swaggering march, but enough to reset the mood.
Now comes Senegal in the knockout round on Wednesday, and the tone from inside the Belgian camp is one of wary respect.
“Senegal is a big team. But, you have to beat them, too, if you want to go far in a World Cup,” Garcia said.
Romelu Lukaku, the focal point of Belgium’s attack, echoed the caution.
“We know it will be a tough match,” he said. “Senegal has a lot of top-level players, and the coach is, too. I think it’s 50-50. We really shouldn’t underestimate them.”
Events in the round of 32 underlined why. Germany, with all their pedigree, fell to Paraguay on penalties. Morocco bundled the Netherlands out in another shootout. The old certainties are gone.
“It doesn’t matter who the favorite is,” forward Charles De Ketelaere said. “We have confidence and need to be sharp. Yesterday showed that it doesn’t matter if you are the favorite.”
Belgium at least have their defensive base intact. Thibaut Courtois has conceded only twice in three games, and Zeno Debast is back training after injury, though Garcia ruled out a start for the center back on Wednesday.
“Zeno Debast is with the group, but tomorrow is still too soon,” the coach said. “He is making progress, though. He still needs time to get fully fit. I am very satisfied with the defenders we have already called upon.”
Senegal arrive with momentum of their own. Sadio Mané leads a side fresh from a 5-0 dismantling of Iraq, but they will have to cope without first-choice goalkeeper Édouard Mendy, injured in a 3-2 loss to Norway in the group stage.
Coach Pape Thiaw will again turn to Mory Diaw, who kept a clean sheet against Iraq.
“Mory had a great performance,” Thiaw said. “He kept a clean sheet and I think (as) the goalkeeper tomorrow, we hope that we’ll also come up with a clean sheet.”
The Senegal boss watched Paraguay and Morocco tear up the script on Monday and took heart.
“It’s not because you finished top of your group that you’re not going to be knocked out in the next round,” he said. “That’s exactly what happened with the Netherlands. It’s another tournament starting. We are looking for the win tomorrow so that we can continue our journey.”
For Belgium’s veterans – Kevin De Bruyne, Lukaku and the rest – that journey feels like a last shot at the prize that always seemed within reach, but never quite theirs. Senegal, in Seattle, will test how much is left in those legs.
England walk the tightrope against DR Congo
England know exactly what’s at stake, and exactly what can go wrong.
On Wednesday in Atlanta, Thomas Tuchel’s side face the Democratic Republic of Congo for a place in the last 16, fully aware that two European giants have already been dragged under. Germany and the Netherlands are out, both on penalties, both beaten by sides who refused to be overawed.
England are chasing an end to 60 years of hurt without a major trophy. Tuchel did not bother to deny their status.
“I think we can just accept it, we are the favorites (against DR Congo),” he said. But he added a clear warning: “The games so far in round of 32 speak a very clear language. It’s narrow, narrow margins.”
He will lean heavily on Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane, his two world-class pillars, but must do without Reece James, who misses the game through injury.
DR Congo arrive with a squad built from across the footballing map. Of the 26 players, 20 were born outside the country, many in France. Yoane Wissa is well known to England’s defenders from his Premier League exploits. Aaron Wan-Bissaka was born in London and played for England at under-21 level. Axel Tuanzebe also came through England’s youth ranks.
Their coach, Sébastien Desabre, made it plain: the pressure belongs to England.
“Our World Cup is already a success relative to our goals,” he said. “The pressure is on the England team.”
His players can swing freely. England cannot. Not after what happened to Germany and the Netherlands. Not with a nation watching and a drought that stretches back to 1966.
USA brace for a defining night
Across the Atlantic, the United States are preparing for what could be the most significant 90 minutes in the history of their men’s national team.
In a crowded American sports landscape, football has long fought for oxygen. On Wednesday night in the San Francisco Bay Area, Christian Pulisic and his teammates face Bosnia-Herzegovina in a knockout tie that could jolt the sport into a different stratosphere.
Up to 30 million viewers are expected to tune in. That number alone tells its own story.
“Everyone knows in the back of our minds what this could do for this country,” midfielder Gio Reyna said. “We feel the country rallying around us. We see the momentum it’s bringing to the sport in this country, just through the group stage. But we also understand if we make a nice run in this tournament, what it could really do for the sport.”
The USA have not tasted a knockout win at a World Cup for almost 25 years. Break that barrier now, in prime time, and the impact will ripple far beyond this tournament.
Haaland, Norway and the shifting order
This World Cup keeps tossing up new storylines.
Erling Haaland finally has one of his own on this stage. The Norway striker stabbed home the decisive goal in a 2-1 win over Ivory Coast, dragging his country into the last 16 for the first time. It was not one of his spectacular, physics-defying strikes, but it mattered more than most.
The theme is becoming clear. Old powers are stumbling. New forces are stepping forward. Matches are being decided on details, on nerve, on who holds steady when the tension snaps.
Mbappé chases Messi’s record, yet insists only the final matters. Belgium’s golden generation try to outrun time. England walk a tightrope between expectation and disaster. The USA stand on the edge of a cultural moment.
The margins are thin. The stakes, for some, have never been higher.
