Deschamps urges caution as France crush Sweden and reach last 16

France overran Sweden 3-0 in New Jersey to book a last-16 meeting with Paraguay, yet Didier Deschamps used the night to slow the rising noise around Les Bleus. Back in the dugout after returning to France for his mother’s funeral, he saw Kylian Mbappe score twice, Michael Olise set up two goals and France extend a run that is starting to look relentless rather than merely promising.

Mbappe’s opening strike set the tone, and when he finished with a second goal he moved level with Lionel Messi on six in the Golden Boot race. Olise’s two assists took his tournament total to five, while France became the first team to score three or more goals in five straight World Cup matches. The numbers were just as striking as the scoreline: France managed 25 shots, their highest total in a single World Cup match since 1998, and have now scored 12 goals in four games in the United States.

The celebration after Mbappe’s first goal said as much about France’s mood as the result. He ran straight to Deschamps for a group hug, a brief but telling moment after a difficult personal week for the coach. Deschamps said, “This group is united and they delivered when I was not here [last week]” and added that “the collective strength is above everything.” Aurelien Tchouameni said the players were trying to give everything to make their coach as happy as possible.

France will now play Paraguay in Philadelphia on Saturday, 4 July at 22:00 BST, with a place in the quarter-finals on the line. The scale of their form is clear enough: world champions in 2018, runners-up in 2022 and now chasing a third consecutive final. Ian Wright described France as “one of the most clear favourites” he has ever seen at a World Cup, while Patrick Vieira said they had shown they are “the team to beat.”

The warning sign for France is also straightforward: they have looked dominant without yet being forced into the kind of suffocating, mistake-heavy contest that can decide a knockout game. Sweden were swept aside, but Paraguay will ask whether France can keep that same control when the margin for error shrinks. That, rather than the scoreline in New Jersey, is the question that still hangs over Deschamps’ side.