France secured a place in quarterfinals by defeating Poland 3-1, where they will face England.
Deschamps made many changes to France starting lineup with the likes of Giroud, Mbappe, Griezmann, Dembele, Rabiot, Theo Hernandez, Kounde, Upamecano and Lloris all back in starting spot. This was by far the strongest french lineup in this World Cup.
Meanwhile, Poland made two changes in their starting lineup with Kaminski and Szymanski called back into the action in the midfield from start.
In the opening minutes of the game Les Blues gets a corner. Griezmann delivers are beautiful cross and Rafael Varane rises highest to head the ball but fails to direct it towards goal and goes wide.
Tchouameni gets a great chance to shoot at goal in the 13th minute and he did shot a low ball from a distance but Szczesny dives and stops the effort from going inside the goal.
Dembele gets another chance in the 17th minute when Krychowiak lost possession. Dembele manage to cut inside from the right flank and shot but Szczesny stopped the effort easily as it lacked the power to beat the keeper.
Poland finally managed to create the space in 21st minute, when Lewandowski gets the ball in final third but his shot drifts wide of the post.
On the 38th minute, Poland again launched a deadly attack. Bereszynski sets a cutback from left flank towards Zielinski, who then fires it towards goal from the edge of the box. Hugo Lloris made an impressive point blank save but the rebound was shot again by Zielinski which Upamecano stopped by getting his body in front of goal. Another rebound from this was shot by Kaminski but Rafael Varane clears it off the line to prevent Poland from getting a lead.
Breakthrough came for France in 44th minute when Mbappe slides are a wonderful throughball for Olivier Giroud, who then placed a calm minded left-footed strike past Szczesny to give Les Blues the lead. Giroud became the record all time international goalscorer for France with 52 goals breaking old record of 51 goals by Thierry Henry.
Second half began with the same fashion. Both sides trying to get on scoresheet. Poland tried relentlessly to equal the scores while France tried to increase their lead and close the game.
Poland suffered another setback in the 74th minute when Les Blues doubled their lead. On the Poland attack, France cleared the line and Griezmann fired the ball forward towards Giroud for the counter. Giroud slided the ball on right flank towards Dembele, who then cuts inside from the right and slides a pass towards Mbappe on the left. Mbappe took his time and fired a rocket into the goal, Szczesny as no chance of saving it.
Marcus Thuram repalces Olivier Giroud, while Dembele was replaces by Coman. For Poland, Kiwior was replaces by Bednarek and Frankowski was replaces by Grosicki.
In the dying minutes of regulation time Poland took another blow which closed the game for good. Marcus Thuram slided a pass in the box for Mbappe who beautifully curled a right-footer into the right corner. Mbappe became the top goalscorer in World Cup 2022 and strong contender for golden boot.
Poland gets a penalty in the last moments of stoppage time after VAR reviewed that there was a handball from Upamecano during play. Robert Lewandowski took the half limped penalty and it was saved by Hugo Lloris, but Poland gets a second chance as Lloris was off the goal line during penalty and there was encroachment from several players. In the second chance Lewandowski converted the penalty into a consolation goal and the match ended.
France have progressed though the quarterfinals where they will face a tough England side, while World Cup journey is over for Poland.
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