France's attacking quartet of Kylian Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé, Michael Olize and Bradley Barcola has become the talk of the World Cup, with opponents left in awe of their firepower. Norway coach Ståle Solbakken declared: "Their four up front is the best in the competition by far."
Historic scoring streak
Les Bleus made history by becoming the first nation to score three or more goals in five consecutive World Cup matches after a 3-0 victory over Sweden on Tuesday. The result propelled France into a round of 16 clash against Paraguay this weekend. Seeking their third straight World Cup final appearance, the defending champions Argentina face a formidable challenger.
"There is something that we cannot hide, that we have a lot of quality in the team," said midfielder N'Golo Kanté. "But I think it's the same for many other teams. We cannot see ourselves too beautiful or too strong."
Dominant tournament run
France are 4-0 in the tournament, outscoring opponents 13-2. After winning the 2018 title against Croatia and losing to Argentina on penalties in the 2022 final, Les Bleus are on a mission. Coach Didier Deschamps emphasized the need for continuous improvement: "We always have to be more and more demanding because the opponents that we're going to face are going to be demanding. We need to fine-tune things and transform some negative points. Even though we didn't have a lot of consequences, we did concede two goals."
Mbappé is tied with Argentina's Lionel Messi for the tournament lead with six goals, after scoring his third brace against Sweden. Dembélé has four goals, tied for fourth, while Olize leads with five assists. Mbappé and Dembélé each have two assists, and Barcola has contributed a goal and two assists. Mbappé's 18 goals in 18 World Cup games place him one behind Messi's career record of 19 in 29 matches. "I know that I do have qualities but I do have to show them on the largest stage that is the World Cup," Mbappé said.
Fluid attacking system
France employ a 4-2-3-1 formation with Deschamps allowing freedom for attackers to interchange. Swedish forward Viktor Gyökeres noted: "They come in different positions. They're not static. They know each other well in how they move and their connection between each other."
Deschamps' legacy
Captain of France's 1998 champions, Deschamps has managed the national team since 2012 and announced in January he will retire this summer. The win over Sweden was his record 18th as a World Cup coach. France scored 14 goals in seven games en route to the 1998 title, 12 in 2018, and 16 four years ago. "We're very much more offensive than in 2018 and in 2022," Mbappé said. "It's the continuity of what we started to build throughout Didier Deschamps' tenure over the last 14 years. You can see the evolution, his personal touch, and the arrival of a lot of young talent."
Rankings and opponents
France have overtaken Argentina for the No. 1 spot in FIFA's rankings. Their four wins came against teams currently ranked 18th (Senegal), 63rd (Iraq), 21st (Norway) and 37th (Sweden). Next up is Paraguay, ranked 34th. Potential quarterfinal opponents include Morocco (sixth) and Canada (30th), while Spain (No. 3) could await in the semifinals.
Opponents impressed
Sweden coach Graham Potter called France the best team in the tournament: "Because of the players in the wide areas, sometimes you have to double up on them because they could just beat you in 1-v-1 situations. And then they've got not a bad striker in the middle. So you've got problems here and you've got problems there. And then it can also build up with good control, strong center backs, so direct football isn't easy against them either."
France are bidding to become just the third nation to reach three straight World Cup finals after Germany (1982-90) and Brazil (1994-2002). Midfielder Aurélien Tchouaméni, a member of the 2022 team, said: "We have really good memories, also bad ones with what happened the last time that we played the World Cup. Everybody is ready to fight and to give everything to make sure that all the French people are going to be proud of us."
