FIFA 2022
FIFA World Cup 2022, Match 51: Giroud and Mbappe shine as France defeat Poland 3-1
Olivier Giroud and Kylian Mbappe’s goals were enough for France against Poland.
On 4 December, the defending champions France locked horns with Poland in the ongoing FIFA World Cup. It was the third match of the Round of 16 that took place in Al Thumama Stadium. France finished the group stage as the Group D topper with six points from three games. They won the first two games but lost against Tunisia in the last match.
On the other hand, Poland also managed to qualify for this round despite losing their last match against Argentina by 2-0. They were the second team in Group C. So, the stage was set for Kylian Mbappe and Robert Lewandowski to win the game for their respective teams. Both teams were looking to get back to winning ways in the tournament.
France defeated Poland 3-1 in the FIFA World Cup 2022
France started the game with more intensity. Rafael Varane missed a header by a small margin in the fourth minute of the game while Antoine Griezmann delivered a corner. Then, in the 13th minute, Aurelien Tchouameni tried to score from distance. But, Poland’s goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny had no problem while handling that.
Poland had their first chance in the 21st minute when Robert Lewandowski had a shot from 20 yards out. But, he failed to convert that chance. After that, in the 38th minute, Rafael Varane came up with a huge goal-line clearance. But, in the 44th minute, Giroud scored the first goal of the match while Mbappe provided him with the assist. With this goal, Giroud became the highest scorer for France across all tournaments. Thus, the first half ended 1-0.
In the second half, Griezmann had a chance to score the second goal in the 48th minute. But, his effort went wide of the right post. Then, Giroud had another chance to score in the 66th minute but failed to convert the chance. However, Kylian Mbappe managed to double the lead for France in the 74th minute. Ousmane Dembele provided the assist in that build-up. After that, he scored his second goal of the match in the 90+1′ minute while Marcus Thuram assisted him. But, Lewandowski scored a penalty in the last minute of the game and made it 3-1. Then, they managed to hold the lead as the match ended 3-1 in favor of France.
