FIFA World Cup 2022 France vs Denmark Highlights: Mbappe brace takes FRA to 2-1 win, champions qualify for round of 16

The champions are the first team to seal a spot in the round of 16. With that, they have also ended a European world champions’ curse that had started with them all the way back in 2002. France had won in 1998 and were knocked out in the group stage in the subsequent World Cup, 2006 World Cup winners Italy were then knocked out in the first stage in 2010, 2010 winners Spain were knocked out in the group stage in 2014 and 2014 winners Germany had been knocked out in the group stage in 2018.  It took an Mbappe brace to end the curse. Denmark, meanwhile, need nothing less than a win in their next match against Australia to avoid being knocked out. 

In a hark back to those sepia pre-Qatar World Cup days, the officials have added just six minutes of added time. France are almost there. 

86 mins: Of course it’s Mbappe who restores France’s lead. He gets in behind Christensen and turns in a real pearl of a cross from Griezmann. France are within touching distance of the Round of 16 now. 

It’s all spicing up nicely now. France seem to have got a reality check here after the high of their big win against Australia with Denmark really pushing forward their case. Brathwaite just managed to graze the bar after getting past Jules Kounde. 

Liverpool’s Ibrahima Konate comes on for Manchester United’s Raphael Varane. Ousmane Dembele, who has been pretty ineffective in the second in stark contrast to the first, drops off for Kingsley Coman. 

73 mins: Eriksen is played in from the left and takes a stinging shot to Lloris’s left. The French captain parries it away with one hand. France under the kosh now. 

67 mins: Well, well, well. Andreas Christensen heads it in from a corner. Denmark responded well to going down, keeping France pinned in their final third. They win a corner, Eriksen takes it from the right and Christensen comes charging in to head it in. The corner had come after Andersen flicked Eriksen’s cross at the near post and it was parried away by Lloris. Game on! 

63 mins: Olivier Giroud won’t be going past Thierry Henry today, he is taken off for Marcus Thuram. 

61 mins: That is a brilliantly worked goal between Theo Hernandez and Kylian Mbappe and the latter finishes it. Mbappe drives forward on the left, passes it to Hernandez on the inside before cutting further in. Hernandez reads what Mbappe wants to do and lays it off for the PSG forward and the latter puts it through the feet of a couple of Denmark defenders. That makes it close to impossible for Schmeichel to spot the ball as it passes him into goal. 

Mbappe sends it inside from the left for Dembele but the force of the pass took the latter by surprise. It clatters off his leg and balloons up in the air. Mbappe arrives and tries to put it past the keeper but doesn’t have enough space. 

France kick it off and then immediately lose possession. The ball is booted forward but it comes to nothing. Denmark have brought on Martin Brathwaite for the yellow carded Andreas Cornelius.

France had taken 11 shots but just two of them were on target, which says a lot about how their attacking forays have gone down. Denmark, meanwhile, have managed just two shots, neither on target. Eight of the French shots have come from inside the penalty area and one out of the two for Denmark. Despite this lopsided dominance in attack, France have had just 42 percent of the possession while Denmark had 46, the rest being in contest.

All square at the break. France will be more unhappy of the two sides for sure. There were many chances but they were found wanting inside the box really. Wonder if they will get a dressing down speech from Deschamps now. 

42 mins: Dembele cuts back from the right, Mbappe in acres of space and he shoots it well over goal. That is well below his standards. 

37 mins: Dembele turns on a six-pence after making a move to cut inside from the right and sprays it to the other side where Mbappe is standing. The PSG forward crosses it first time into the middle where Giroud bulldozes at the standing Danish centre backs. His header, though, is off target. That was brilliantly worked between Dembele and Mbappe. 

32 mins: Griezmann with a neat one-two with Giroud on the left and he drives to the byline. He has no one to square it to and goes for goal himself from a tight angle and it is smothered by Schmeichel.  

30 mins: A bit of a quiet period came when Denmark were trying to work something out but couldn’t do so. Then France break, Mbappe makes a surging run on the left inside the French box and sends a brilliant ball accross the face of goal. No French heads to meet it though and Kounde then attemps a shot that is blocked.

21 mins: Griezmann takes the free kick resulting from the Christensen foul on Mbappe, plays it wide to Dembele on the right flank and the winger sends in the cross. Adrien Rabiot rises and heads it towards the far post and Kasper Schmeichel makes one of those post card diving saves that is used to describe what a goalkeeper does to beginners to the sport. Sensational from the Denmark captain but France are purring along here. 

19 mins: Andreas Christensen hacks down Kylian Mbappe after he gets to run free on goal and he is slightly lucky that the referee did not see that as a clear chance to score. Players have got red cards in those situations and the way Christensen briefly put his head down after hitting the ground indicates that even he thought that he is done for. 

16 mins: Dembele leaves Maehle biting the dust on the right and sends in a cross. Giroud rises but it is somehow cleared by Denmark centre back Joachim Andersen. France are lacking the killer touch here but they are creating the chances. 

14 mins: Corner for France from the right, the ball comes in and Varane rises at the near post to glance it towards goal. A Danish defender puts his foot in at the right time at the far post to deny the Manchester United centre back. 

9 mins: Mbappe releases Theo Hernandez down the left, the AC Milan full back sends in the cross that is touched down dangerously for Giroud but Denmark manage to clear. 

Dembele wins the ball in France’s half on the right and they move forward. The move ends with Dembele taking a rather feeble shot from the D that is easily cleared. 

5 mins: Denmark have most of the possession in the first five minutes, not really allowed a turn over to happen until the fourth minute. They give away possession without doing much though. They had won a free kick on the left near the touchline a good distance away which came to nothing as well. 

Enough chatter then, let’s get down to the brass tacks. Denmark kick it off in Doha. 

Hugo Lloris is the Tottenham Hotspur and France captain and he lifted the trophy in Russia in 2018 as well. Kasper Schmeichel, a stalwart for Leicester City for so long, now plies his trade for Nice in France and has the armband for Denmark. 

Right here they are! Hugo Lloris leads out France, Kasper Schmeichel heads the line for Denmark. The French national anthem is played first. 

Quite a few major stars have not been able to make it to the World Cup this year due to injuries and France are probably the side most affected by this among the major teams. Midfield engine Ngolo Kante and creater Paul Pogba, both of whom played a major role in them winning the title last time around are both not in Qatar. Ballon d’Or holder Karim Benzema has also missed out and defender Lucas Hernandez is also out after taking a knock in the match against Australia while his Bayern Munich teammate Kingsley Coman missed training yesterday due to a hip problem. Despite all this, they have enough talent to be considered serious contenders for the title. 

France have lost 2-0 and 2-1 to Denmark in the Nations League this year. However, that was the Nations League and not the World Cup, the occassion does have a big effect on the result. 

Simon Kjaer makes way for Victor Nelsson, while Jesper Lindstrom takes Andreas Skov Olsen’s place. Thomas Delaney is injured and Mikkel Damsgaard comes into midfield in his place. Andreas Cornelius who had missed a complete sitter against Tunisia in Denmark’s opener gets a starting berth with Kasper Dolberg dropsping to the bench.

Well amidst all the players that they are losing to injury, France can be happy that they have got one back in centre back Raphael Varane. He was the heart of their defence in the last World Cup that they won and has now fully recovered from his hamstring injury. 

Kasper Schmeichel, Joachim Andersen, Victor Nelsson, Andreas Christensen, Rasmus Kristensen, Pierre Hojbjerg, Christian Eriksen, Joakim Maehle, Jesper Lindstrom, Andreas Cornelius, Mikkel Damsgaard

Hugo Lloris, Jules Kounde, Raphael Varane, Dayot Upamecano, Theo Hernandez, Adrien Rabiot, Aurelien Tchouameni, Antoine Griezmann, Ousmane Dembele, Olivier Giroud, Kylian Mbappe

France got a new all-time highest goalscorer in their tournament opener, with Olivier Giroud surpassing the great Thierry Henry with the two goals that he scored. They would also be happy that star forward Kylian Mbappe got up and running with a goal for himself. This is a team that is supposedly depleted by injuries and yet can field some of the best attackers in the world around the evergreen Giroud. They would be praying for two things today, one being a spot in the Round of 16 that they can seal if they win this match, and the other being that no more of their players get ruled out of the tournament.