Kylian Mbappé and Michael Olise star as France kick-off their World Cup campaign by beating Senegal
France overcame a stubborn Senegal side to claim a 3-1 victory in their 2026 FIFA World Cup Group I opener, with Kylian Mbappé netting twice and official Man of the Match Michael Olise also starring in a thrilling second half at the New York/New Jersey Stadium.
France opened their 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign in Group I against Senegal at the New York/New Jersey Stadium, with Didier Deschamps naming an unchanged starting XI from the side that beat Northern Ireland 3-1 in their final warm-up fixture. That meant that Bayern Munich duo Dayot Upamecano and Olise both started.
Senegal, meanwhile, started with Bayern's Nicolas Jackson up front, while Bara Sapoko Ndiaye was amongst the substitutes.
France started brightly, with the ball moving through their ranks, but they struggled to create clear-cut chances. Senegal, however, were far from passive as they pressed high and attacked with confidence. The closest either side came to breaking the deadlock in the first half arrived midway through the half when Jackson was fed in behind, worked himself a yard of space, and struck the post.
Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé had half-chances, but Senegal were the more dangerous, with Sadio Mané having a tame shot saved by Mike Maignan. Then, in first-half stoppage time, Sarr blazed over from close range after Mané had teed him up.
Both sides returned unchanged for the second half, and France immediately showed more intent. Désiré Doué fired narrowly wide, and Olise was denied by a fine save from Edouard Mendy after beating Koulibaly. Mbappé was also thwarted by Mendy in the 57th minute, before a penalty appeal for France was waved away after Mbappé went to ground in the box.
The breakthrough finally came midway through the second period. Jules Koundé found Olise on the right, who threaded a superb pass through the Senegal defence for Mbappé to turn and finish clinically to make it 1-0. Senegal thought they had equalised almost immediately when Jackson hammered the ball into the net, but the flag went up for offside.
With around 10 minutes remaining, substitute Bradley Barcola made a swift impact; just two minutes after coming on, he was found by Adrien Rabiot and, with Mendy advancing, delicately dinked the ball over the goalkeeper to make it 2-0.
Deep into stoppage time, Senegal replacement Ibrahim Mbaye pulled one back for Senegal, firing powerfully past Maignan after being set up by Ndiaye. However, France responded almost immediately with Olise feeding Mbappé, who unleashed a stunning drive from distance to seal the points and become his country's all-time record goalscorer with 58 strikes.
