France’s Olivier Giroud celebrates after scoring the opening goal against Poland on Sunday. (Ebrahim Noroozi/AP)
Goals from Olivier Giroud and Kylian Mbappe saw France defeat Poland 3-1 at Al Thumama Stadium to reach Quarter-Finals of 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Giroud rifled France into a half-time lead with a clinical 43rd minute strike from close-range, which saw him become France’s all-time record male goalscorer with 52 international goals and broke his tie with Thierry Henry.
Mbappe delivered curled strikes in the 74th and 91st minutes to secure victory for France.
Robert Lewandowski denied France a clean sheet after he scored an injury-time penalty following a handball from Dayot Upamecano.
France will now await the winner of England’s Round of 16 tie against Senegal in the Quarter-Finals on Saturday 10 December, which will kick off at 10pm AST local time at Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor.
Following several changes in their defeat to Tunisia on Wednesday, France returned to a strong starting line-up, which quickly saw them seize control of the match as Bartosz Bereszynski fouled Antoine Griezmann in the opening minute.
Kylian Mbappe, Adrien Rabiot and Ousmane Dembele all then saw shots denied by Wojciech Szczesny as France dominated the opening 20 minutes.
Poland resolutely dug deep defensively and their first chance came on a 20th minute counter-attack, as Szczesny cleared Aurelien Tchouameni’s direct cross up to Robert Lewandowski who fired wide of the right corner.
Jules Konde two minutes later unleashed a long shot from outside of the box but Szczesny made a crucial save, which led Poland to enjoy a positive spell attacking France.
Giroud missed a 29th minute sitter as he flicked Dembele’s square ball pass wide of the bottom-left corner, despite having found himself unmarked just yards from goal.
Poland’s best chance of the first half fell to Piotr Zielinski who saw two shots in the 38th minute denied as his first shot deflected off Hugo Lloris, before his rebound effort hit Theo Hernandez and Jakub Kaminski’s follow-up shot was blocked.
France’s first-half pressure eventually paid off two minutes from half-time as Mbappe played a pass through for Giroud to rifle into the far-left corner, as the veteran striker escaped his marker towards the left side of the box to fire himself top of France’s all-time goalscoring chart.
Kaminski quickly tried to respond for Poland to restore parity but dragged his shot wide a minute later as the Polish found themselves trailing at the break.
France however began the second-half just like in the first half with an early foul from Bereszynski who this time fouled Dembele, with Szczesny blocking the free-kick which Hernandez fired wide on the rebound.
Giroud looked to had claimed his second goal in the 57th minute with a stunning bicycle-kick shot, but his effort was disallowed due to a collision involving Szczesny and Raphael Varane just behind him.
Giroud again missed out on another goal a further nine minutes later as he flicked Kounde’s cross into the near-right side-netting.
France’s second-half dominance however eventually paid off with a 74th minute counter-attack led by Giroud, which the AC Milan strike passed to an in-cutting Demebele who teed up Mbappe as he cut in from the left flank to smash in a calmly taken strike.
Poland attempted to try and claim a consolatory goal at minimum in the closing stages but were undone as substitute, Marcus Thuram found Mbappe to curl across into the far-right corner to complete a dominant victory.
A late handball from Upamecano of Kamil Grosicki’s cross though saw France concede an injury-time penalty, which Lloris initially saved but off his goal line which led to a retake from which Lewandowski put away on the second time to net a consolatory goal for the departing Polish players.
France now have reached the Quarter-Finals stage for the third consecutive World Cup and will face either England or Senegal next.
Teams
France: Hugo Lloris, Jules Kounde (Disasi 90+3′), Raphael Vara, Dayot Upamecano, Theo Hernandez, Aurelien Tchouameni, Adrien Rabiot, Ousmane Dembele (Coman 76′), Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe, Olivier Giroud (Thuram 76′)
Substitutes: Benjamin Pavard, Axel Disasi, Matteo Guendouzi, Randal Kolo Muani, Youssouf Fofana, Jordan Veretout, Steve Mandanda, William Saliba, Kingsley Coman, Alphonse Areola, Eduardo Camavinga, Ibrahima Konate, Marcus Thuram
Poland: Wojciech Szczesny, Bartosz Bereszynski, Kamil Glik, Jakub Kiwior (Bednarek 87′), Matty Cash, Sebastian Szymanski (Milik 64′), Grzegorz Krychowiak (Bielik 71′), Przemyslaw Frankowski (Grosicki 87′), Piotr Zielinski, Jakub Kaminski (Zalewski 71′), Robert Lewandowski
Substitutes: Artur Jedrzejczyk, Mateusz Wieteska, Jan Bednarek, Krystian Bielik, Arkadiusz Milik, Damian Szymanski, Kamil Grosicki, Lukasz Skorupski, Karol Swiderski, Szymon Zurkowski, Nicola Zalewski, Kamil Grabara, Krzystof Piatek, Robert Gummy, Michal Skoras
Referee: Jesus Valenzuela (Venezuela)
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