France 3-0 Sweden - 2026 World Cup Match Report and Player Ratings

Mbappe Dazzles as France Blow Sweden Away

This felt like the first reasonable test of France's metal on paper, truth be told that is NOT how it unfolded in actual fact.

Sweden simply couldn't get near Les Bleus at almost any stage of the game and the 3-0 scoreline actually massively flattered them when the full-time whistle blew.

France 3-0 Sweden as it happened

Sweden, not wanting to be outdone by their Scandinavian counterparts Norway, did start the quicker of the two with a tame Alexander Isak shot the first sight of goal for either side.

France did quickly nullify the quick start, though, with a spell of possession that saw them rack up 72% of the ball after 10 minutes. A couple of Swedish breaks did look momentarily dangerous and kept the French wary of losing the ball without cover.

The two brightest sparks before the hydration break came in the form of a Bradley Barcola run which ended in a wayward effort and a Kylian Mbappe run off the shoulder on the halfway line, in which he was deemed marginally offside before running through and slotting past Zetterstrom in vain.

France continued to threaten after taking on both fluid and tactical advice during the hydration break. The biggest chance came in the form of a Kylian Mbappe sitter which saw the Madridsta unceremoniously hit the post as the ball was rolled across to him with what was almost an open goal gaping.

Olise joined the woodwork club just five minutes later with a magnificent attempt at an overhead kick before Dembele blazed the rebound over the bar. Still, Sweden did have little glimpses but they were becoming fewer and farther between with every passing second.

The France pressure was endless, an Olise shot was sent wide by Zetterstrom and from the resulting corner, the deadlock was finally broken on the stroke of half time.

A delightful passing pattern between Olise, the Ballon d'Or Dembele and Mbappe from a short corner saw the latter jink inside before unleashing a lovely effort into the far corner.

Sweden reacted well at the end of the half with a couple of chances created, but it was the 2018 champions who took a lead into the half time break.

Halftime Score - France 1-0 Sweden

Clearly whatever Graham Potter said at half time to his side did more to send them to sleep than spur them on to victory as, on 53 minutes, the French doubled their lead with a flowing move that the Scandinavian's could do absolutely nothing about.

Michael Olise received the ball and slipped a gorgeous little pass through the onrushing defenders legs to Bradley Barcola who made up for his earlier miss and fired home emphatically.

The game continued in the same fashion well beyond the second hydration break, immediately after which Michael Olise should have made it 3-0 after going through one-on-one but he saw his effort saved instead.

Kylian Mbappe grabbed his second of the game in scary fashion to draw himself level with Messi just two minutes later. It was Olise involved again who received the ball from a cheeky Mbappe backheel. The Bayern Munich winger found the tightest of gaps to refind Mbappe, who had continued his run. The Madridsta made no mistake and finished brilliantly past a helpless Zetterstrom. 3-0 France.

Oh yes, and to make matters worse for Sweden, the French then brought Doue, Cherki and Mateta on...

The rest of the game was more celebration of the previous 80 minutes than anything new. Dembele was conserved, Mbappe and Olise were both withdrawn to standing ovations. In the end, Sweden got off quite lightly considering what could have been and will have been mightily relieved to hear the full time whistle.

France's World Cup to lose? I don't think there's any doubt about it.

_Full-time Score - France 3-0 Sweden_

France Player Ratings

Maignan - 6

Kounde - 7

Upamecano - 6

Saliba -6

Digne - 6

Tchouameni - 7

Rabiot - 6

Dembele - 8

Olise - 9

Barcola - 8

Mbappe - 9

Substitutes

Gusto (75') - 6

Doue (75') - 6

Hernandez (78') - 6

Cherki (85') - N/A

Mateta (85') - N/A

Sweden player ratings

Zetterstrom - 7

Gudmundsson - 5

Lindelof - 5

Lagerbielke - 3

Svensson - 4

Elanga - 5

Bergvall - 4

Ayari - 4

Stroud - 3

Gyokeres - 5

Isak - 2 (No bias, promise)

Subsitutes

Zeneli (66') - 5

Ali (66') - 5

Nygren (82') - 5

Svanberg (82') - 5

Nilsson (89') - N/A

Man of the Match: Michael Olise

To be quite honest, you might as well hand one each to every member of the France frontline. In fact, maybe none of them should get one purely because they only put away three of their 1,500 chances.

In all seriousness though, whilst Mbappe was of course excellent and equalled Messi's total in style, Michael Olise was simply unplayable and provided two unbelievable assists for his teammates.

Sweden simply couldn't deal with his movement, ball manipulation and ability to find a pass out of nothing - in short, Olise is him.