France made a brilliant start to their 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign, securing a thrilling 3-1 victory over Senegal at the New York New Jersey Stadium on Tuesday.
A brace from Kylian Mbappe and a neat finish from Bradley Barcola ensured the two-time world champions clinched a statement win over the Lions of Teranga in Group I’s opener.
Senegal came into the clash looking to cause an upset, and they had chances in the first half to set them on that path. However, the African side failed to bury their opportunities.
Nicolas Jackson was unfortunate to see his strike hit the post, while Ismaila Sarr missed a huge opportunity to break the deadlock on the cusp of halftime, blasting his effort over the crossbar from about six yards out.
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The missed opportunities came back to haunt Senegal as France put in a superb performance in the second half. Within the first 15 minutes of the second period, Édouard Mendy had made two brilliant saves, denying Michael Olise and Kylian Mbappe from finding the net.
On the hour mark, Mbappe fell down inside the box after a challenge from Sadio Mane, leading to protests for a penalty. However, despite a VAR check, the spotkick was not given.
France continued to attack and eventually got their goal in the 66th minute. Olise produced a world class pass, finding the run of Mbappe inside the box, before the Real Madrid star slid the ball past Mendy into the bottom-left corner to make it 1-0.
Nicolas Jackson thought he leveled the scoreline immediately after he hit a cracking finish into the top-left corner, but the flag was raised for offside. In the 80th minute, the Bayern Munich striker got another opportunity to equalise, but his effort went over the bar after a brilliant cross from Malick Diouf.
Two minutes later, Didier Deschamps’ side showed their class once again to make it 2-0. This time, Adrien Rabiot slid a sumptuous pass into the path of Barcola, who calmly dinked his effort over the onrushing Mendy to double France’s lead.
Substitute Ibrahim Mbaye scored a wonderful goal in the 95th minute to give Senegal a late lifeline. But their hope only lasted few seconds, as Mbappe scored a historic goal in the 96th minute to clinch a 3-1 victory.
It marked Mbappe’s 58th goal for France, making him the nation’s all-time leading goal scorer, moving past former Arsenal and Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud.
France’s next game will come up against Iraq on Monday, June 22 while Senegal will hope to bounce back when they face Norway on Tuesday, June 23.
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