France’s Kylian Mbappe (10) runs with the ball through the World Cup Group I football match between France and Iraq in Philadelphia, Monday, June 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
PHILADELPHIA — Neither rain, nor lightning, nor a swampy field — and definitely not overmatched Iraq — could stop Kylian Mbappé.
Yeah, it got a bit messy on the pitch.
Weather aside, this game — as so many do for France — belonged to Mbappé as he tries to maintain pace on the World Cup profession goals list with latest record holder Lionel Messi.
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Mbappé scored twice to maneuver right into a tie for second in World Cup goals with 16, and France played through the tournament’s first rain delay to beat Iraq 3-0 on Monday and advance to the knockout stage.
“I’m only fascinated about helping my team,” Mbappé said. “By helping my team, I rating goals, and whenever you rating goals, in fact, you catch up with to that type of level.”
Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé also scored for Les Bleus, giving fans who stuck out a rainy night in Philadelphia a reason to chop loose.
Mbappé scored within the 14th and 54th minutes to cap a momentous and soggy one centesimal international appearance for among the best players on this planet. Fans of all ages wore his jersey, either walking around Philadelphia earlier within the afternoon or within the rows of seats at Lincoln Financial Field, which had a sellout crowd of 68,234.
Mbappé’s first goal gave France a 1-0 lead at halftime, when heavy rain and an incoming thunderstorm prompted a delay of just over two hours. Grounds crews used squeegees to push water off the swampy Kentucky bluegrass at the house of the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles.
“It was very difficult, because we had to remain focused, we had to remain engaged within the locker room,” Mbappé said.
READ: Messi sets World Cup scoring record as Argentina advances
Scoreboard messages directed the group to take shelter within the stadium’s covered areas, warning that a severe storm was on the way in which. Sheets of rain continued to fall through halftime as fans wrapped themselves in ponchos and huddled within the concourse and under balconies.
Iraq coach Graham Arnold wrestled with a poncho for a couple of seconds before he pulled it over his head and returned to the covered dugout. France fans who stayed of their seats in the previous couple of covered rows of the highest of the stadium waved the country’s flag, and plenty of splashed across the concourse to pass time.
Others fled for the exits — at the identical stadium where last season’s Eagles opener was delayed 65 minutes within the third quarter due to lightning — because the delay dragged on, giving overseas spectators a triple dose of American sports nuisances: rain delays, overpriced concessions and TV timeouts in the shape of hydration breaks. There was no second-half hydration break on this game after the long, wet pause within the motion.
Playing in his third World Cup, the 27-year-old Mbappé matched Miroslav Klose of Germany on the goals list and moved one ahead of Brazil great Ronaldo.
Messi scored twice for Argentina earlier Monday to set the tournament record at 18. He had equaled Klose along with his first World Cup hat trick in Argentina’s 3-0 win over Algeria last Tuesday night in Kansas City, Missouri.
Mbappé scored his third goal of the tournament with a left-footed strike — his supposed weaker foot — from the sting of the box that got past Iraq goalkeeper Ahmed Basil, who got his first start within the tournament after captain Jalal Hassan allowed all 4 goals in Iraq’s 4-1 loss to Norway.
READ: Kylian Mbappe World Cup heroics in vain but justify Pele comparisons
For his second goal, Mbappé took advantage of a poor pass to the goalkeeper by Iraq defender Zaid Tahseen. Dembele controlled the loose ball and passed to Mbappé, who tapped it in along with his right foot.
Mbappé had a likelihood on the hat trick on a late breakaway, but missed before he was subbed out on the 90-minute mark.
“He can take Messi, he can take Ronaldo,” France coach Didier Deschamps said. “He does have the capability to up his ante.”
Mbappé helped France win the World Cup in 2018 and reach the ultimate in 2022, when he was awarded the Silver Ball because the second-best player. Joined up front by Désiré Doué and Dembélé, France entered this yr’s tournament as a co-favorite with Spain.
France could return to Philadelphia to play Germany on July 4.
“We’re going to try to investigate it in the approaching days, see what we will improve, because I believe there are two or three things we could have avoided,” Mbappé said.
Iraq striker Aymen Hussein was subbed out with an apparent injury within the twenty sixth minute of the primary half and replaced by Ali Al-Hamadi. Hussein scored his thirty fourth international goal in Iraq’s World Cup opener.
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Iraq is playing within the World Cup for just the second time after debuting in 1986.