France beat Sweden 3-0 to reach the last 16

Didier Deschamps’ France secured their place in the last 16 of the 2026 FIFA World Cup with a 3-0 win over Sweden in the ‘Round of 32’ knockout match. The French dominated the Swedes throughout the match, relying on an incredible double from Kylian Mbappe and a record-breaking assist from Michael Olis. On the night of this royal victory, Real Madrid superstar Mbappe surpassed Lionel Messi in the race for the Golden Boot, while the midfield wizard Olis set a 32-year-old historic world record.
France, who were 1-0 up in the 45th minute through Mbappe’s goal in the first half, became even more devastating after the break. Winger Bradley Barcola scored a brilliant finish in the 53rd minute of the match to make it 2-0. He scored the goal from a perfect pass from the in-form Michael Olis. It was Barca’s second goal of the tournament. The French captain broke through the Swedish defence midway through the match to score his second and his team’s third, securing France’s 3-0 victory. With these two goals, Mbappe is now the joint top scorer at the 2026 World Cup, equalling Messi with 6 goals. At the same time, the French star is now second in the all-time World Cup goalscorers list with 18 goals, just behind Messi (19 goals).
By scoring with Barca, Michael Oliseh has broken the world record for most assists in a single tournament. No footballer has provided so many assists in a single World Cup tournament since German legend Thomas Hassler in the 1994 World Cup. Despite having the potential to score a hat-trick in the 85th minute of the match, coach Deschamps decided to take Mbappe off and replace him with Jean-Philippe Mateta.