EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey — Twenty-four years is a long time to carry a scar. For France, the wound was inflicted on May 31, 2002, in Seoul, when Papa Bouba Diop scored the only goal in a 1-0 Senegal victory over the defending world champions. It was the opening match of the tournament. France never recovered. They crashed out in the group stage without scoring a single goal.

On June 16, 2026, at MetLife Stadium, they finally got their revenge. But it did not come easily.

The First Half: Fear

For 45 minutes, it was 2002 all over again. France’s attack — Mbappé, Dembélé, Olise, Doué, a front four worth more than the GDP of small nations — produced one shot. One. Zero on target. Senegal, meanwhile, were everything France were not: direct, dangerous, and utterly unafraid.

Nicolas Jackson hit the post. Ismaïla Sarr missed from point-blank range. The half-time whistle blew with the score 0-0, and French fans everywhere felt a familiar dread creeping in.

The Second Half: Fire

Didier Deschamps has been criticised for many things over his long tenure as France manager. Tactical inflexibility is a common charge. But at MetLife Stadium, he made the adjustment that changed everything.

Michael Olise moved inside. The Bayern Munich midfielder had spent the first half marooned on the right wing, watching the game pass him by. In the second, he became the central creative hub — and France suddenly had a pulse.

In the 66th minute, Olise played the pass. A threaded ball through the right channel, perfectly weighted, that split Senegal’s defence like a scalpel. Mbappé took one touch, turned, and fired low into the far corner. 1-0.

The goal was Mbappé’s 57th for France, moving him past Olivier Giroud as the nation’s all-time leading scorer. But the celebration was not about records. It was about release. Twenty-four years of waiting, exhaled in a single moment.

The Finishing Touches

Bradley Barcola, on the pitch for barely two minutes, made it 2-0 in the 82nd minute with a composed chip over Édouard Mendy. The Paris Saint-Germain forward had replaced Dembélé, and his first meaningful touch was a World Cup goal.

Then came the drama. In the fifth minute of stoppage time, Ibrahima Mbaye — no relation to Kylian — danced past Theo Hernández and smashed a shot past Mike Maignan. 2-1. Senegal had life.

Sixty seconds later, Mbappé extinguished it. Olise found him on the edge of the box. One touch, one shot, one unstoppable finish into the top corner. 3-1. Game over. Ghost exorcised.

The King’s Numbers

Mbappé now has 58 goals for France — the most in history. He has 14 World Cup goals, level with Just Fontaine and Gerd Müller. Only Ronaldo (15) and Miroslav Klose (16) have more. He is 27 years old.

Thirteen of his 14 World Cup goals have come after the 60th minute. Six have come after the 80th. As Mauricio Pochettino once said, Mbappé is a killer who can be invisible for 80 minutes and then decide the game in ten.

The Unsung Hero

But this match belonged as much to Michael Olise as to Mbappé. The 24-year-old finished with two assists and was the architect of everything France created in the second half. When Deschamps moved him inside, the game tilted irreversibly in France’s favour. Olise is not a like-for-like replacement for Antoine Griezmann — he is something different, something perhaps even more dangerous: a player who can beat defenders one-on-one AND pick a pass that nobody else sees.

Group I Standings

Pos Team P W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 France 1 1 0 0 3 1 +2 3
2 Norway 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 Iraq 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 Senegal 1 0 0 1 1 3 -2 0

Match Details:

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