World Cup: Olise leads assists chart as France sweep past Sweden
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France comfortably beat Sweden to progress into the Round of 16 at the World Cup. Kylian Mbappe scored his third brace of the tournament to tie Lionel Messi at the scoring chart, while FC Bayern’s Michael Olise had a couple of assists after the break.
In a thoroughly dominant display by Didier Deschamps’ side, Bradley Barcola also scored his second goal of the tournament. France will face Paraguay in the Round of 16.
Olise leads the assist charts with five, which is already the highest by a player in a World Cup campaign since 1994. The 24-year-old is still waiting for his first goal of the competition, though. He did come very close to opening his account with a remarkable bicycle-kick effort before the break, but it ricocheted off the post.
Mbappe sets a new record as he becomes the first player in history to reach double-digit knockout-stage goals in the World Cup. He is also only one goal shy of Messi’s all-time scoring record. The attacking duo came off to a huge applause five minutes from time, while Olise’s Bayern teammate Dayot Upamecano played the entire game.
Borussia Dortmund’s Daniel Svensson had his first start of the tournament for Sweden. Mattias Svanberg replaced him for the final ten minutes, while Alexander Bernhardsson and St. Pauli’s Eric Smith were unused substitutes. Holstein Kiel’s wingback started all group stage games, while the latter hasn’t featured at all in the entire tournament.
