Mbappe leads France to victory over Iraq in lightning-delayed World Cup | World Cup 2026 news

Kylian Mbappe scored France’s first two goals, while Ousmane Dembele added another in a 3-0 win over Iraq.

Kylian Mbappe scored his second goal of the tournament, and France did well a 3-0 victory in Iraq for the first match of this World Cup where the weather has been suspended for a long time.

Mbappe’s goals came nearly three hours apart after heavy rain in the area on Monday delayed the start of the second half by a shade under two hours.

He would take him to 16 World Cups of all time, drawing him alongside the legendary Miroslav Klose. Earlier on Monday, Lionel Messi set a new World Cup record of 18 goals with his two matches as Argentina won 2-0 against Austria.

Mbappe’s four goals puts him one behind Messi in the 2026 Golden Boot race.

The winner of the Ballon d’Or Ousmane Dembele also scored after half-time for two defenders France (2-0-0, 6 points), who are guaranteed to advance.

Their place in the last 32 will be guaranteed if Norway wins or draws against Senegal in another Group I match. The game, which took place about two hours by car in northern New Jersey, started almost at the same time as the start of the long-awaited second half at the Philadelphia Stadium.

Iraq (0-2-0, 0 points) remains alive in one of the eight knockout spots allocated to third-placed teams.

They will probably need a win in their last group game against Senegal and another assist. And they could be without Aymen Hussein, who scored their only goal of the tournament, but went off on Monday in the 26th minute with an apparent injury.

France dominated early on, with Mbappe taking the lead in the 14th minute.

On the right, Mbappe received a pass from Michael Olise, took a touch to his left and, as the Iraqi defenders gave him space, unleashed a powerful strike from the edge of the penalty area that went over the head of Ahmed Basil.

The delay would have served as recovery time for Iraq, who spent most of their time chasing the ball. Instead, they gifted France and Mbappe a second chance for a terrible goal-scoring error.

Dembele then gave the ball to Mbappe. He scored 12 minutes later, after controlling Olise’s pass in the 18-yard box and finishing Basil’s run.

The result was never in doubt, the weather provided the drama.

Referee Drew Fischer finished his half-time whistle as a storm had already begun, the skies opened up, and spectators were told to take cover in the stadium.

The players finally showed up for warm-ups about 1 hour and 40 minutes later, and even then, the restart was delayed again as stadium workers used squeegees to block standing water on the east side of the stadium.