Kylian Mbappé surpasses Miroslav Klose into 2nd place of All-Time World Cup goalscorers as France advance to the Round of 16

By Mario Amaya 

East Rutherford, NJ- France finished the group stages with a perfect record, winning all three games, scoring 10 goals in the process, and entering as a favorite into their Round of 32 matchup against Sweden, who entered this stage of the World Cup as one of the best third-place teams, as favorites to win. 

France did not disappoint and walked away with the victory and their ticket to the Round of 16, with a commanding 3-0 victory Tuesday afternoon, in front of 80,633 fans in attendance. 

France’s all-time leading goal scorer and Real Madrid star Kylian Mbappé stole the show in The Meadowlands Tuesday afternoon as he moved into 2nd place among all-time goal scorers in World Cups, passing Germany’s Miroslav Klose with 18 goals. 

After creating numerous opportunities in front of goal, including a bicycle kick from Michael Olise that hit the crossbar, Mbappé would open the scoring in the 45th minute. After a quick one-two pass sequence between Olise and Ousmane Dembélé, the ball would fall to Mbappé close to the end line. Mbappé cut back and dribbled past a Swedish defender before placing the ball on the right-hand corner of Jacob Widell Zetterström's goal to surpass Klose in the number two spot of all-time leading goal scorers in World Cups and give France the lead to end the half. 

France picked up where it left off in the 53rd minute. When Aurélien Tchouaméni played the ball in the midfield to Olise. The Bayern Munich man played a through ball to Bradley Barcola, who controlled the ball inside the box and shot the ball past Widell Zetterström and into the back of the net to double France’s lead. 

Mbappé would cap off his afternoon with his brace in the 74th minute. Mbappé would play the ball with a back heel pass to Barcola, who played a back pass to Olise. Olise would thread a ball into the area to Mbappé in stride inside the area, and with a simple shot to the right angle of the net scored his 6th goal of the tournament to be joint top scorer of the World Cup with Lionel Messi, who has the same number of goals in the tournament so far.

France will face off against Paraguay in the Round of 16 in the city of Philadelphia, PA, on Saturday, July 4th.