{"id":1807,"date":"2025-11-14T17:04:01","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T09:04:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/?p=1807"},"modified":"2025-11-14T17:04:01","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T09:04:01","slug":"mbappe-olise-star-as-france-seal-spot-at-2026-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/14\/mbappe-olise-star-as-france-seal-spot-at-2026-world-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Mbappe, Olise star as France seal spot at 2026 World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Kylian Mbappe hit a brace while Michael Olise and Hugo Ekitike also scored as France beat Ukraine 4-0 on Thursday to secure World Cup qualification after an evening marked by tributes to the victims of the 2015 Paris attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Captain Mbappe<\/a> coolly chipped<\/strong> in from the spot 10 minutes into the second half at the Parc des Princes and the impressive Olise <\/strong>doubled their lead on 76 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mbappe <\/strong>then struck again and Ekitike swept in a first goal<\/strong> for his country as France <\/strong>got the win they required to clinch their spot <\/strong>at the 2026 finals in North America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A minute’s silence was impeccably observed<\/strong> ahead of kick-off by the 41,000 spectators as France <\/strong>marked the 10th anniversary<\/strong> of the attacks in and around Paris on Friday, November 13, 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the 130 people killed in the attacks<\/strong> lost their lives at the Bataclan concert hall in the capital, where they were attending a concert<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But one person<\/strong> died near the Stade de France in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, where multiple explosions<\/strong> took place as suicide bombers attempted to enter the ground during a friendly between Les Bleus<\/strong> and Germany<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Didier Deschamps<\/strong> was the coach then and remains in charge now<\/strong>, with the approaching World Cup to be his final tournament<\/strong> before stepping down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With one game still to come<\/strong> in Azerbaijan on Sunday, France <\/strong>have an unassailable six-point lead<\/strong> over both Iceland and Ukraine at the top of European qualifying Group D.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winners of the World Cup in 2018 and runners-up in 2022, France <\/strong>maintain their record of having made it to every edition of the tournament<\/strong> since missing out on a place in the United States in 1994.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While they can look forward to the draw for the finals, which takes place in Washington, DC, on December 5, Ukraine <\/strong>and Iceland meet each other on Sunday in a shoot-out <\/strong>to decide who continues on into the play-offs next March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ekitike off the mark<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

France’s only slip-up<\/strong> in qualifying came in a draw in Iceland last month, although they have rarely found<\/strong> their fluid best during a low-key campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mbappe <\/strong>and Olise<\/a> were in fine fettle<\/strong> here at Paris Saint-Germain’s home ground, though, while Bradley Barcola<\/strong> came closest to scoring in the first half with a curling effort<\/strong> from outside the area that was tipped onto the woodwork<\/strong> and behind for a corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Real Madrid superstar Mbappe<\/strong>, the France captain, then chipped in from the spot<\/strong> to open the scoring early in the second half after Olise <\/strong>had been fouled inside the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Olise<\/strong>, of Bayern Munich, really came into his own after being shifted<\/strong> from the right to a more central role. It was shortly after setting up Ekitike<\/strong> to hit the post that Olise <\/strong>turned and fired in France’s second goal, and Ukraine <\/strong>caved in towards the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mbappe <\/strong>scored from close range in the 83rd minute after Ekitike <\/strong>had been denied, taking him to 55 goals for his country and to within two of all-time top marksman Olivier Giroud’s tally of 57<\/strong>. Liverpool’s Ekitike <\/strong>then rounded off a fine move to wrap up the victory<\/strong> with his first senior international goal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kylian Mbappe hit a brace while Michael Olise and Hugo […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1808,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1807"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1809,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1807\/revisions\/1809"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}