Senegal’s hopes of repeating one of football’s greatest upsets were extinguished on Tuesday evening, as a ruthless second-half display from France handed the Lions of Teranga a 3-1 defeat in their Group I opener at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
The last time these two sides met at a World Cup, in 2002, Senegal memorably stunned the then-world champions 1-0 in one of the tournament’s most iconic results. For long stretches on Tuesday, it seemed another shock was brewing.
Senegal pressed France in numbers from the first whistle, forcing Les Bleus to play from the back, and looked the more dangerous side in the opening exchanges. Sadio Mané had a tame shot saved by Mike Maignan, before Nicolas Jackson rattled the post to send a warning to a lethargic French side.
The moment that would prove decisive came on the stroke of half-time. Mané glided through a static French defence and teed up Ismaila Sarr, who blazed over from close range — a miss that gave Les Bleus the wake-up call they desperately needed.
Didier Deschamps acted swiftly at the interval. He pushed Michael Olise centrally and moved Ousmane Dembélé out wide — an adjustment that worked with aplomb. France were transformed.
A controversial VAR check denied Mbappé a penalty in the 61st minute, with the referee ruling the France captain had initiated the contact with Mané, a decision that left the French bench incensed. It only served to sharpen Mbappé’s focus.
The breakthrough arrived on 66 minutes. Olise threaded a brilliant defence-splitting pass through to Mbappé, who drove past Édouard Mendy to break the deadlock and draw level with Olivier Giroud as France’s all-time leading scorer on 57 goals.
Substitute Bradley Barcola made it two on 82 minutes, latching onto Adrien Rabiot’s pass and finishing coolly to put the result beyond doubt.
Senegal refused to go quietly. Ibrahim Mbaye drove into the attacking third in the third minute of added time and unleashed a shot that gave Maignan no chance, briefly raising hopes of a late comeback. But Mbappé had the final word.
Just a minute later, the France captain latched onto another pass from Olise and fired past Mendy to restore the two-goal cushion — his 58th goal for France in his 99th appearance, making him his country’s outright all-time leading scorer ahead of Giroud.
Mbappé now stands on 14 World Cup goals, level with Germany legend Gerd Müller, behind only Ronaldo’s 15 for Brazil and Miroslav Klose’s all-time record of 16 for Germany.
