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France defeated Senegal 3-1 this Tuesday in the , held at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in front of 80,545 spectators.
The French, reigning world runners-up, showcased their authority with a dominant performance reflected in the statistics: 54% possession, 10 total shots compared to five from the Africans, and seven shots on target against just one from Senegal.
The match remained goalless during the first half, but Kylian Mbappé broke the deadlock in the 66th minute with a goal assisted by Olise to open the scoring.
Bradley Barcola extended the lead in the 82nd minute with an individual breakaway in which he overcame the Senegalese goalkeeper and finished with precision for the 2-0 score.
When the outcome seemed set, Senegal found a goal in the 90+5 minute through Mbaye, creating a brief moment of tension in the stadium.
Mbappé, however, responded immediately: just a minute later, in the 90+6, he scored his second goal of the match to set the final score at 3-1 and close off any possibility of an African comeback.
Senegal committed nine fouls during the match, compared to only four by France, which reflects the pressure the Europeans exerted on their opponents throughout the 90 minutes.
With this victory, , which also includes Norway and Iraq, teams that faced each other earlier on Tuesday in Boston in the other match of the opening day.
The most notable historical precedent between both teams in World Cup history is Senegal's 1-0 victory over France in the group stage of the 2002 World Cup, regarded as one of the great surprises in the tournament's history. This time, the story was different.
France arrives at the tournament with the most valuable squad of the 2026 World Cup, valued at 1.53 billion euros, and demonstrated this on the pitch of MetLife Stadium.
The upcoming commitments for the French team in the group stage will be against Iraq and then against Norway, while Senegal will need to recover and face those same teams to stay alive in the tournament.
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