Kylian Mbappe marked his 100th cap on Monday by scoring two more World Cup goals as France eased to a 3-0 win over Iraq in a game disrupted midway for two hours because of a severe storm.

Mbappe opened the scoring in the 14th minute and added another nine minutes into the second half, with last year's Ballon d'Or winner Ousmane Dembele getting the other goal for the tournament favourites in Philadelphia.

Mbappe moved to 16 World Cup goals in his career, two behind Lionel Messi, who set a new record of 18 goals by netting twice for Argentina against Austria earlier on Monday.

The match in Philadelphia kicked off at 5:00 pm local time (2100 GMT) and had to be halted at half-time as a huge storm passed over the city.

Having started in dry conditions, torrential rain began to fall late in the first half, and supporters were told as soon as the half-time whistle was blown to "exit the open seating area and seek shelter in covered areas".

The 68,324-capacity Lincoln Financial Field is largely uncovered, leaving most of the capacity crowd to pack into the concourses.

The second half eventually got under way more than two hours behind schedule, in what was the first match of this World Cup to be affected by bad weather.

There are strict protocols in place in the United States in which a game must be halted if a storm is detected in the area.

It is also raining goals at this World Cup for Mbappe, whose brace here followed two in France's opening 3-1 win over Senegal last Tuesday.

The 27-year-old Real Madrid superstar and France captain became his country's all-time top scorer with his goals against Senegal, overtaking the previous best tally of 57 for Olivier Giroud.

He now has 60 goals for Les Bleus in a century of appearances, and 16 of them have come at the World Cup in just 16 matches.

Meanwhile, Erling Haaland scored his second World Cup brace in a row as Norway beat Senegal 3-2 to punch their ticket into the last 32.

Norway substitute Marcus Holmgren Pedersen struck late in the first half in New Jersey before Haaland doubled the lead shortly after the break.

Ismaila Sarr cut the deficit for Senegal, only for Haaland to punish more slack defending as Norway moved through to the knockout rounds with a game to spare despite a late consolation from Sarr.

Manchester City forward Haaland now has four goals in two games at the tournament, hot on the heels of Lionel Messi's double earlier in the day.

Norway have lost only once in their past 18 matches and will take on France in a compelling battle for top spot in the group in Boston on Friday.

Senegal must beat Iraq, who are also without a point, in their final game to stand a chance of avoiding an early exit.

Led by the unstoppable Haaland, who increased his astonishing international goals tally to 59 in 52 games, Norway recorded back-to-back wins at the World Cup for the first time.

They added weight to the belief they can do serious damage at these finals with a dominant display against a Senegal side that paid heavily for their errors. (AFP)


Edited by Nazvi Careem