DOHA, 4 Dec: It all seems so straightforward \u2014 laughable, perhaps \u2014 for Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 when it comes to the World Cup.
\nThe France forward, who scored four goals when he led his country to the title four years ago as a 19-year-old phenom, put on yet another demonstration of how devastating he can be on the soccer field.
\nAfter it was over, Mbapp\u00e9 almost seemed to be chuckling as Robert Lewandowski came over to congratulate him following his spectacular display.
\nMbapp\u00e9 scored two goals Sunday and set up another for Olivier Giroud to give France a 3-1 victory over Poland and move the 2018 champions within three wins of defending their title. He already has a tournament-best five goals in Qatar as Les Bleus have reached the quarterfinals for the third straight tournament.
\n\u201cThere is no recipe. No one knows the recipe, no coach knows the recipe to stop Mbapp\u00e9 in the form he is in,\u201d Poland coach Czeslaw Michniewicz said through a translator. \u201cHe hurt us today but I am cheering for him because he is a real star. I\u2019m talking about (Lionel) Messi, (Cristiano) Ronaldo, Lewandowski. If someone is going to take over, I think Mbapp\u00e9 will be the player to be the best one (for) many years.\u201d
\nLewandowski, a two-time FIFA player of the year, scored from the penalty spot in second-half stoppage time for Poland.
\nMbapp\u00e9 scored his first goal in the 74th minute when he was left unmarked to blast in a long-range shot following a counterattack. He added another in stoppage time when Poland goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny could only get a weak glove on another powerful shot from the man in the No. 10 shirt.
\nHaving also provided two assists, Mbapp\u00e9 has easily been the most productive player in Qatar.
\nMbapp\u00e9 celebrated his second goal by waving his arms for the crowd to cheer louder. Then he hoisted himself up onto the crossbar shortly after the final whistle in another celebratory gesture in front of France\u2019s fans.
\nMbapp\u00e9 already has nine career World Cup goals and if he stays healthy, he could probably play in another three editions of soccer\u2019s biggest event \u2014 meaning he might approach the World Cup career scoring record held by Germany striker Miroslav Klose, who scored 16 goals over four World Cups.
\nNo country has repeated as World Cup champions in six decades \u2014 since Brazil achieved the feat by claiming consecutive trophies in 1958 and 1962. Italy is the only other nation to have won two straight, in 1934 and 1938.
\nFrance\u2019s quarterfinal opponent will be either England or Senegal.
\nWhile Lewandowski is a prolific scorer himself, he\u2019s never come close to winning a major title with a Poland team that struggles to get him the ball.
\nMbapp\u00e9, by contrast, is supported by a large array of talented players \u2014 even though half a dozen top France players are out injured.
\nThe French team took the lead when Mbapp\u00e9 threaded a pass to Giroud and the AC Milan striker quickly slotted the ball into the far corner. It was Giroud\u2019s 52nd career international goal \u2014 breaking a tie with Thierry Henry on France\u2019s all-time scoring list.
\nAfter Mbapp\u00e9 leaped into Giroud\u2019s arms to celebrate, pumping his fists, Giroud held up seven fingers to the cameras \u2014 five on one hand and two on the other for \u201c52.\u201d
\nIt\u2019s all the more sweet for Giroud because he wasn\u2019t even supposed to be a starter on this year\u2019s squad until Ballon d\u2019Or winner Karim Benzema was ruled out because of injury. Giroud also scored two goals in France\u2019s opening 4-1 win over Australia.
\nFrance, however, wasn\u2019t so sure to go this far when several other top players were ruled out shortly before the tournament because of physical issues, including midfielders Paul Pogba and N\u2019Golo Kante, central defender Presnel Kimpembe, left back Lucas Hernandez, and forward Christopher Nkunku are also out.
\nOn a record-setting night for France, goalkeeper Hugo Lloris matched the national team mark of 142 appearances held by Lilian Thuram.
\nWith two European teams playing, there weren\u2019t all that many supporters of either country inside Al Thumama Stadium except for small pockets of France fans beating drums behind one goal and red-and-white clad spectators chanting \u201cPolska\u201d behind the opposite goal. There were also plenty of empty seats.
\nWhile Lewandowski did miss wide on one long-range opportunity early on, he also gestured angrily at his teammates for not providing him with the ball.
\nLewandwoski\u2019s first penalty attempt in the final seconds was saved but he scored with the second after a video review ruled that Lloris left his line too early.
\nThe last defending champion to reach the quarterfinals was Brazil in 2006 \u2014 when France beat the South Americans before eventually losing in the final to Italy in a penalty shootout. (AP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DOHA, 4 Dec: It all seems so straightforward \u2014 laughable, perhaps \u2014 for Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 when it comes to the World Cup. The France forward, who scored four goals when he led his country to the title four years ago as a 19-year-old phenom, put on yet another demonstration of how devastating he can be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-206280","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206280\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}