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When France are in the mood, there are the few teams that can stand their might. Fresh from winning the UEFA Nations League last month, Les Bleus are currently on a roll.
Didier Deschamps’ side made light work of Kazakhstan on Saturday evening to book their place at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar in style.
It was a sublime performance at the Parc des Princes, punctuated by some truly brilliant goals. Kylian Mbappe and Karim Benzema were in sensational form as they both got on the score sheet multiple times.
Antoine Griezmann and Adrien Rabiot were the other scorers as France ruthlessly thrashed Kazakhstan 8-0 in a game that was completely one-sided.
Mbappe destroys Kazakhstan
For all the other players who got on the score sheet, though, Mbappe was the star of the show. The PSG attacker scored a hat-trick in the opening 30 minutes before adding a fourth three minutes from full time.
Mbappe has now become just the 14th player to score 20 or more goals for France. His latest haul also saw him take his international goal tally to 21, one more than Eric Cantona, who is on 20.
It was a night of many records for the 22-year-old, who completely destroyed Kazakhstan with his ruthlessness in front of goal. He was always in the right place at the right time and was totally unplayable.
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that Mbappe is still just 22. He’s been so good for Les Bleus since his debut and, at this rate, will break more records in the coming years.
France in perfect shape to defend World Cup
France have now won two trophies in the last three years and the only competition they couldn’t conquer in that period was the 2020 European Championships.
However, after securing qualification to the 2022 World Cup, Deschamps’ side will go into the tournament as one of the favorites.
After their big win over Kazakhstan, the France boss said, as quoted by BeSoccer:
"The objective was to qualify, but in addition there is the manner [in which it is done] and the pleasure that the players have playing together, the understanding between them, especially the forwards.”
"It is good, everyone had their piece of the pie. It's a result that rewards everything we did well. We had the right tempo. The risk is always to relax a little, but we continued," he added.
The world champions are in perfect shape to defend the illustrious trophy they won in 2018 and it’ll take something special to stop this juggernaut.
