Mbappé consoles Deschamps after bereavement as France crushes Sweden 3-0

Kylian Mbappé opened the scoring and then doubled his tally to guide France to a 3-0 victory over Sweden in the round of 16 of the 2026 World Cup on Tuesday evening in New York. But it was a gesture off the pitch that defined the evening: at the 45th minute, after his first goal, the captain rushed into the arms of a visibly emotional Didier Deschamps.

The manager had learned of his mother’s death a few days earlier. Back on the bench for this round of 16 match, he said that the support of his players had touched him beyond the result. “Obviously, on a personal level, Kylian’s gesture moved me greatly,” he said. “He is our captain and I don’t say good things about him just to say good things, because he has been exemplary from day one. The group was united, they did what was needed when I wasn’t there.”

Mbappé, for his part, wanted to place this moment in a collective context. “It’s not just me, I think the whole team was there with him,” he explained. “There are things that are more important than a World Cup, more important than football. But it’s the DNA of this group, to be all together, to be truly united. We are all behind the coach, no matter what happens. We wanted him to feel that he is not alone.”

Deschamps acknowledged that this group cohesion is not enough to win matches, but that it can cause them to lose if it is lacking. “The spirit of a group doesn’t win matches, but I know all too well that it can lose them,” he warned, before looking ahead to France’s next opponent: Paraguay, who pulled off a surprise upset of Germany at the same stage of the competition.