Kylian Mbappé Eyes World Cup Glory as France Faces Paraguay
Kylian Mbappé is hunting history, but he’s not chasing a ghost in the record books. Not yet. His eyes are fixed on New York, on July 19, on a World Cup final he talks about with the calm certainty of someone who has already lived these nights and wants more.
On Tuesday in the round of 32, he ripped Sweden apart.
Two goals, a 3-0 win, and another reminder that when France shift through the gears, few can live with them. Mbappé’s double took him to 18 World Cup goals in 18 games, one behind Lionel Messi’s all-time record of 19, and level with the Argentine at the top of this tournament’s scoring charts on six.
The numbers are outrageous. He shrugs them off.
“I think the goal, as I said, is to go as far as possible – to make it to (the final on) July 19th and come back here,” he told reporters, his mind already drifting towards the later rounds rather than the leaderboard.
Yes, he knows what those goals mean. Every striker does. He also knows Messi is still out there, still scoring, still stretching the bar higher.
“Of course, the more goals you score, the higher you climb in the rankings – I’m not telling anyone anything new there,” Mbappé said. “But I’m also convinced that Leo is going to score more goals, so I don’t focus too much on that. I’m more focused on the opponents we might face and how close we’re getting to our goal: the final.”
Messi’s Argentina now meet Cape Verde in the last 32, a mismatch on paper but another chance for the world champions’ captain to move the dial. France’s path looks more rugged. Paraguay await in Philadelphia, a side that just sent Germany home and did it by turning a World Cup classic into a tactical stalemate.
Paraguay sat deep, suffered, and then dragged four-time champions Germany into a penalty shootout they did not survive. Anyone expecting them to suddenly open up against Mbappé and company has not been paying attention.
Les Bleus know it.
“I think we’ll keep working between now and the Paraguay match to see what we can improve, because there are still some sequences that aren't quite clear enough, there’s room for improvement,” Mbappé said. “Still, I think it’s positive overall, and our ability to score goals means we always have the chance to take the lead in matches.”
That ability was on full display against Sweden. Fluid combinations, runners from deep, and a front line that seems to score in bursts rather than drips. Yet the mood around this World Cup has shifted. Germany are gone. The Netherlands are gone. Both fell on penalties to underdogs – Paraguay and Morocco – in a brutal reminder that pedigree means nothing if you switch off for a moment.
France have seen the warning signs. Belgium have lived them.
Belgium’s reset and a Senegal test
Four years ago in Qatar, Belgium’s so-called golden generation stumbled out of the group stage, a flat, joyless campaign that felt like the end of something. This time, there is at least a sense of renewal.
Top of Group G. A 5-1 demolition of New Zealand to seal it. One win, two draws, and a place in the knockout rounds that already represents a step up from 2022.
“We wanted to finish first in the group stage and we succeeded,” coach Rudi Garcia said in French. “Of course we wanted to win more — we know the story of our World Cup so far. Now it is time for the knockout phase. Senegal is a big team. But, you have to beat them, too, if you want to go far in a World Cup.”
Senegal will not be intimidated by reputations. They came through one of the tournament’s toughest groups, finishing third in Group I behind France and Erling Haaland’s Norway, with three points and a plus-2 goal difference. They have scars, but they also have belief.
Romelu Lukaku, who has seen enough shocks to understand the danger, was blunt.
“We know it will be a tough match,” he said in French. “Senegal has a lot of top-level players, and the coach is, too. I think it’s 50-50. We really shouldn’t underestimate them.”
Events elsewhere only sharpened that view. On the same night, Germany fell to Paraguay and Morocco bundled the Netherlands out at the earliest knockout hurdle. No one needed another lecture on complacency.
“It doesn’t matter who the favorite is,” said forward Charles De Ketelaere. “We have confidence and need to be sharp. Yesterday showed that it doesn’t matter if you are the favorite.”
Belgium’s defence, anchored by Thibaut Courtois, has conceded just two goals in three games. It will be tested by Sadio Mané and a Senegal side fresh from a 5-0 rout of Iraq, a performance that suggested they can hurt anyone when they find their rhythm.
There is a twist, though. At the back, Senegal are patched up.
Goalkeeper Édouard Mendy, injured in a 3-2 defeat to Norway in the group stage, will not play. Coach Pape Thiaw confirmed that reserve keeper Mory Diaw, who kept a clean sheet against Iraq, is set to continue.
“Mory had a great performance,” Thiaw said in French. “He kept a clean sheet and I think (as) the goalkeeper tomorrow, we hope that we’ll also come up with a clean sheet.”
The message from the Senegal coach mirrored the mood of this entire knockout phase.
“It’s not because you finished top of your group that you’re not going to be knocked out in the next round,” he said. “That’s exactly what happened with the Netherlands. It’s another tournament starting. We are looking for the win tomorrow so that we can continue our journey.”
Belgium, for their part, welcome back center back Zeno Debast to full training after a left leg injury and MRI scare. He has yet to play a minute at this World Cup and, according to Garcia, is unlikely to be rushed.
“Zeno Debast is with the group, but tomorrow is still too soon,” Garcia said. “He is making progress, though. He still needs time to get fully fit, as was anticipated. I am very satisfied with the defenders we have already called upon.”
The golden generation is fading, the legs a little heavier, the window narrower. Senegal in Seattle will show whether Belgium still have one deep run left in them.
England walk the tightrope
England have watched the chaos unfold and know exactly what is at stake. Germany out. The Netherlands out. Two European giants tipped over by teams who refused to be intimidated. Thomas Tuchel’s side step into that same minefield on Wednesday against the Democratic Republic of Congo, with a place in the last 16 on the line.
The Three Lions are chasing an end to a 60-year wait for a major trophy. The pressure is obvious. Tuchel has no interest in pretending otherwise.
“I feel it is a privilege to be in these situations. I think we can just accept it, we are the favorites (against DR Congo),” he said on Tuesday.
He has also seen enough of this World Cup to know that status is fragile.
“The games so far in round of 32 speak a very clear language. It’s narrow, narrow margins.”
England will lean heavily on Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane, their star duo and the heartbeat of a side that expects to dominate the ball. They will do so without Reece James, the influential defender ruled out through injury, a loss that could matter if the game becomes stretched.
DR Congo, though, arrive with nothing to lose and a squad stitched together from across the footballing world. Of their 26 players, 20 were born outside the country, many in France. Forward Yoane Wissa is a familiar face to English defenders from the Premier League. Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Axel Tuanzebe both represented England at youth level before switching allegiance.
Coach Sébastien Desabre knows exactly where the pressure lies.
“Our World Cup is already a success relative to our goals,” he said. “The pressure is on the England team.”
That is the dynamic that has undone so many favourites in this tournament: one side burdened by expectation, the other liberated by the simple joy of still being here.
America’s moment under the lights
Across the Atlantic, another nation stands on the brink of something bigger than a single result. In a crowded U.S. sports landscape, football has fought for space, for relevance, for nights that feel like they belong to it. Wednesday might be one of them.
Up to 30 million Americans are expected to watch the USA face Bosnia-Herzegovina in a primetime knockout tie in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is being billed, with some justification, as the biggest match in the country’s football history.
“Everyone knows in the back of our minds what this could do for this country,” midfielder Gio Reyna said.
“We feel the country rallying around us. We see the momentum it's bringing to the sport in this country, just through the group stage. But we also understand if we make a nice run in this tournament, what it could really do for the sport.”
Christian Pulisic leads a generation that has grown up with Champions League nights and European pressure. What they have not yet had is a World Cup knockout win in almost 25 years. Bosnia-Herzegovina stand between them and that barrier.
Win, and the sport’s trajectory in the U.S. could accelerate again. Lose, and the question of when – or if – football truly breaks through in America lingers for another cycle.
A tournament tilting on fine margins
All around this World Cup, storylines twist and collide.
On Tuesday, Mbappé and France delivered a statement performance against Sweden, their Real Madrid star taking his tally to six for the tournament and racing towards Messi’s record. After one of his goals, the French players ran to embrace Didier Deschamps, a quiet, powerful show of unity for a coach grieving the recent death of his mother.
“I think that reflects the spirit of this group — it's part of our DNA. We are all together,” Mbappé told beIN Sports. “We know the coach has been through a difficult experience; unfortunately, everyone goes through that at some point and it's very hard.”
On another pitch, Erling Haaland stabbed home the decisive goal to carry Norway past Ivory Coast 2-1 and into the last 16 for the first time. A different superstar, a different narrative, the same ruthless edge in front of goal.
The pattern is clear. The margins are not.
France, Belgium, England, the USA – they all carry expectation into their next matches. They have the names, the budgets, the histories. Yet this World Cup has already shown that none of that guarantees anything when the whistle blows.
For Mbappé, the target is New York on July 19. For Belgium, it is survival against a fearless Senegal. For England, it is avoiding the fate that has already swallowed two of Europe’s heavyweights. For the USA, it is a night that could change how a nation sees the sport.
One by one, those ambitions will be tested. Who bends? Who breaks? And who is still standing when the road finally leads to that final?
