{"id":504063,"date":"2026-06-17T09:12:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T09:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/504063\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T09:12:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T09:12:14","slug":"kylian-mbappe-on-the-double-as-france-state-clear-intent-against-senegal-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/504063\/","title":{"rendered":"Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 on the double as France state clear intent against Senegal \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

World Cup, Group I: France 3 (Mbapp\u00e9 66, 90+6, Barcola 82) Senegal 1 (Mbaye 90+5)<\/p>\n

Meadowlands: the name will always generate a dopey smile of reminiscence among Irish football fans of a certain generation. Although they have yet to unveil the statue to Ray Houghton and the stadium has been rebuilt, there\u2019s part of this big, aggressively functional cathedral to American professional sports where it will always be that June day in 1994 and Ireland are hanging on for delirious life against Italy. <\/p>\n

Thursday will mark the 32nd anniversary of that escapist glory. Not that French and Senegalese fans pouring out of Manhattan for this juicy Tuesday afternoon tie in which history swirled with supreme football talent cared or even knew. That was then.<\/p>\n

France, even without the whippet genius of Antoine Griezmann, are expected to go deep and far into this American football summer. But after Spain\u2019s scoreless humbling by Cape Verde in Atlanta on Monday, there have been subtle signs that the most American of cliches may hold true in this expanded competition: if you work hard enough, anything is possible.<\/p>\n

It was 25 degrees and cloudless by midafternoon in East Rutherford and an occasion of glorious colour and noise. Among the crowd were the 1,000 Harlemites who got lucky in the $50 ticket lottery that New York mayor Zohran Mamdani held in the \u201cLittle Senegal\u201d enclave in upper Manhattan to make sure \u201cworking class New Yorkers have an opportunity to be part of the city\u201d. The deal included a free bus trip out to Meadowlands; no small thing when public transport was at a premium.<\/p>\n

\"France'sFrance’s D\u00e9sir\u00e9 Dou\u00e9 and Senegal’s Krepin Diatta fight for the ball. Photograph: Jewel Samad\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

But despite the midafternoon, midweek kick-off in a city still coming down off the endorphin rush of Saturday night\u2019s NBA championship victory, the big, bowl-shaped stadium contained few empty seats for this latest encounter between France and the country it held as a colony until 1960.<\/p>\n

Senegal\u2019s seismic 1-0 victory in their debut World Cup<\/a> finals game in 2002, and the imperishable image of scorer Papa Boupa Diop dancing with his team-mates at the corner flag, remains the lodestone for the current generation playing a lightning-quick quarter of a century on. <\/p>\n

Diop, sadly, died after a long illness in 2020 but that moment announced Senegal as a football force and this is their third consecutive finals appearance. It follows the wild conclusion to their recent African Cup of Nations adventure, when they were stripped of the title after a controversial final against Morocco.<\/p>\n

And as France lazily eased their way into the game, the African side bristled with energy and intent. In the seventh minute, Isma\u00efla Sarr tested Dayot Upamecano and the French defender responded with an agile block as the Crystal Palace striker wound up for what would have been the first shot in anger.<\/p>\n

For all the dazzling array of talent and accomplishment France brought to the field, Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 remains their star and the eye was invariably drawn to his menacing, ominous breaks and angled runs through the Senegalese back line.<\/p>\n

It was slow-burning and chance-less after 20 minutes when it seemed the advance notices were true: the French were not going to abandon the pragmatic, if staid, ideology through which Didier Deschamps has delivered so much success in what is his final tournament as head coach after 14 years.<\/p>\n

\"FranceFrance head coach Didier Deschamps and Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 after his opening goal. Photograph: Franck Fife\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

But if Mbapp\u00e9\u2019s movement was defined by the usual shark-like grace, his touch was heavy and, in the 25th minute, almost costly. A meaty first touch was perfectly read by El Hadji Malick Diouf and his first-time ball played Nicholas Jackson through. His powerful shot clipped the post and boot of a flailing Maignan as a low gasp of wonder detonated across east Rutherford.<\/p>\n

Cue plenty of animated conversations during the hydration break \u2013 welcome in the parching Jersey sunshine. On it went until Senegal gave France another scare: Sadio Man\u00e9 took a return pass from Diouf and found space along the left wing and his squared ball broke to Sarr, who had a gilt-edged chance from six yards. Somehow, he hooked it over the crossbar. Senegal could have led by two and should certainly have been 1-0 up.<\/p>\n

In the 51st minute, Sarr was in again, thwarted by Saliba\u2019s stretching tackle. But the longer Senegal failed to score, the more vulnerable they looked down there on that perfect field.<\/p>\n

There were glimmers of French intent, with Michael Olise and Mbapp\u00e9 beginning to pick the lock in the Senegalese backline. Mbapp\u00e9 had a strong penalty check denied by referee Alirexa Faghani after a lunging tackle by Man\u00e9. But they moved with a predatory intent now.<\/p>\n

\"KylianKylian Mbapp\u00e9 after a challenge by Sadio Man\u00e9. Photograph: Darrian Traynor\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

The France goal, when it came in the 66th minute, was almost insolent in its brilliance: Mbapp\u00e9 ran a sublime, full-tilt angle behind the backline and converted Olise\u2019s precision pass with a deft flick. It was cruelly clean and easy.<\/p>\n

PSG\u2019s Bradley Barcola was on the pitch just three minutes when he raced on to Rabiot\u2019s deep, measured pass: the resultant chipped goal was his first meaningful touch.<\/p>\n

It was pitiless, really, as the Senegalese began to wilt after the exertions and promise of the first hour. France looked assured and imperious through the yawning eight minutes of added time as they delivered a letter of intent across to Kansas City, where world champions Argentina would make their debut in the cool of dusk.<\/p>\n

And it wasn\u2019t over either: Senegal found the finish they needed when 18-year-old Ibraham Mbaye exuberantly hammered home a sweeping counterattack in the 94th minute.<\/p>\n

The Senegalese crowd was still celebrating when Mbapp\u00e9 galloped on to another Olise ball and fired a wonder goal from distance. It took him past Olivier Giroud as France\u2019s all-time goal scorer and he is just three behind Miroslav Klose\u2019s World Cup finals record of 16. <\/p>\n

The French fans traipsed back towards the skyscrapers happy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"World Cup, Group I: France 3 (Mbapp\u00e9 66, 90+6, Barcola 82) Senegal 1 (Mbaye 90+5) Meadowlands: the name…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":504064,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2956,61,60,65024,112,4018],"class_list":["post-504063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-fifa","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-kylian-mbappe","tag-sports","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}