Mbappe sends France into 2nd round with 1-0 win over Peru

YEKATERINBURG, June 22: Fast, exciting and now the youngest scorer in France’s World Cup history.
Kylian Mbappe is the one.
At 19 years and 183 days, Mbappe became the youngest player to score for France’s national team on soccer’s biggest stage. And his reward was leading his squad into the round of 16 with a 1-0 victory over Peru on Thursday.

“I’ve always said that the World Cup is a dream for any player,” said Mbappe, who was born a few months after France won the 1998 title. “It is a dream come true and I hope I will have more like this.”
With two wins from two matches in Group C, France is through to the next round with a match to spare. Peru was eliminated.

Paul Pogba, one of France’s best players, set up the 34th-minute goal for Mbappe. Pogba beat his defender and passed to Olivier Giroud, who then chipped the ball toward goal for Mbappe to easily tap in past goalkeeper Pedro Gallese.

France coach Didier Deschamps made a pair of tactical adjustments after an underwhelming performance in the team’s opening win over Australia. He put Giroud and Blaise Matuidi in the starting lineup but kept the same 4-3-2-1 formation with Giroud up front.oth used their speed and passing to expose gaps in Peru’s backline.

Paolo Guerrero started for Peru after coming off the bench in the opening loss to Denmark. He came out with energy, but he cooled down after receiving a yellow card in the 23rd minute.

Guerrero nearly missed the World Cup before his doping ban was lifted by a Swiss judge prior to the tournament. France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris was one of three opposing captains, along with Australia’s Mile Jedinak and Denmark’s Simon Kjaer, who signed a letter to FIFA supporting the lifting of the ban.

Guerrero had one of Peru’s best chances in the 87th minute from a free kick, but his attempt went right at Lloris.

“We gave it our best in two matches. We came into this match with a completely different set of expectations, but I have nothing to hold against my players,” Peru coach Ricardo Gareca said. “France is a hard team to harness. … France corrected its style over the course of the game, this proves that France is a great side.”

Gareca said in both games his team’s ball control created opportunities, “but we couldn’t finish, we couldn’t score.”
The three-prong attack of Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele did little in the opening win over Australia, but the French trio was active Thursday in Yekaterinburg.

Griezmann had a pair of opportunities stopped within the first 15 minutes, and Mbappe and Dembele consistently got past Peru’s defense to set up scoring chances.

Peru was outshot 12-10, with only two of those chances on target. Two others were blocked.