Is France the Best Team at This World Cup or Is It Yet to Be Properly Tested?
Is France the Best Team at This World Cup or Is It Yet to Be Properly Tested?
France has blown opponents away at this tournament, becoming the first team to score three or more goals in five straight World Cup matches.Conor Orr|
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Truly the stuff of fever dreams over here in section 225 along the stadium’s north side. Pass the man in the tight striped shirt wearing a red beret and holding a fake plastic baguette and you turn the corner to find a pair of men dressed as mimes. They are waving a French flag to fan a young supporter of Les Bleus who has overheated and is slumped down in a chair as security forms a wall around him to cool down.
Around the corner comes Max, an athletically built male of about 5’10” who is dripping sweat beneath what looks like a heavy, non-breathable blonde wig decorated in a kind of braided pigtail. He’s wearing a traditional Swedish dress for Midsommar atop shin guards, soccer socks and tennis shoes. Follow him through the concourse and onto the patio, and you’ve arrived at Camp Sweden.
The fan section of Swedish football—which also cleverly featured fans wearing yellow shirts with the word IKEA written on them—was paltry in size to the overwhelming number of French supporters here among the 83,000 attendants in New Jersey, but for the first 40 minutes, the chants of ‘Allez, Allez, Allez’ (‘Onward Sweden’) did not relent.
Max said Swedish fans took pride in their FIFA ranking for kindness, but when informed that France were heavy favorites, his eyes narrowed and he assumed a joking fighter’s posture. When asked if he believed, as Sweden seemed to escape one piercing attempt on goal after another (including a 19th-minute goal by Kylian Mbappe that was called back upon review) by the blistering French attack over the course of the first 40 minutes, he smiled.
“Of course I do,” he says. “I f—- flew here.”
France and Kylian Mbappé Take Charge
Of course, in rapid succession just before halftime, just after halftime and a third time at the 73rd minute, France eventually honed its eye for the goal and obliterated any chance of a stunning upset. Gone were the scattershot follows, the moments where Les Bleus’ incredible strikers were slapping their heads in frustration.
Kylian Mbappé sliced between two defenders and pounded the ball in the far side of the net. Bradley Barcola slipped between a pair of Swedish defenders, took a quick touch and scored again. Then Mbappé, one last time, punched the ball to the far corner of the net, just off the outstretched hand of Sweden's keeper, Jacob Widell Zetterström. After the last one Mbappé found an open swath of space and skied into the air, a bit like a toddler pretending he was a rocket ship blasting off to the moon.
Outside of the confidence that momentarily reverberated from Camp Sweden, though, the eventual 3-0 result was heavily expected. France became the first team in World Cup history to score three or more goals in five straight matches, though those matches were against some of the Cup’s lowliest opponents: A lukewarm Senegal, Iraq and a second-string Norway, none of which are in the FIFA top 15 World Rankings (Iraq hovers in the mid 60s). Sweden was in organizational tatters leading into the World Cup as well.
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Just How Good is This France Team?
It brings up the important question, as France advances to play Paraguay (another team outside of the Top 30 in FIFA World Rankings, though riding high after a stunning upset over Germany in the opening round) in the second stage of the knockout tournament: Are we responsible for believing what our eyes tell us to believe? Or, is it merely another victory over a small, bright-eyed, understaffed army like we saw in Camp Sweden?
“We knew we had to be perfect,” Graham Potter, Sweden’s manager said afterward, noting that, even if Sweden was perfect, it may not have been enough. “We needed a couple of miracles.”
When asked if he thought any team could beat France, he said: “Of course, it’s football, anything is possible, but I haven’t personally seen a better team.”
As Mbappé was subbed off in the 86th minute, France manager Didier Deschamps stretched out his arms and bowed several times, welcoming the 27-year-old star to the bench. Mbappé has now played in 18 World Cup games and has scored 18 goals. He is now the lone record holder, passing Ronaldo and Leonidas, for the most goals ever scored in the knockout stage of the World Cup (10).
What France Does to Opponents
French soccer, at this very moment, is the picture of versatility, with an amoebic attack that is grounded in a concept that is simple theoretically but almost impossible to achieve in real time: Make yourselves fluid enough to empower your goalscorers. France has dominated by mastering width, drawing double teams at both ends of the pitch and thinning out defenses that still cannot manage to bracket the team’s fleet of strikers. Even with quarterly hydration breaks, the tiring effect this has on defenders is debilitating.
They are also appropriately dominant. Before Mbappé’s first goal, he made a backward no-look pass to Ousmane Dembélé that looked more like a dance step (the pair have more mutual assists for one another than any tandem dating back more than 50 years). Every part of his facial expression suggested that he planned for the moment to go viral. France possessed the ball more than 60% of the game and had a shot advantage of 12-3.
Les Bleus appear comfortable enough, then, to sidestep the question of opponent quality. Deschamps admitted that “for us, it wasn’t that difficult” to reach the round of 16 but cautioned a reporter who mentioned the cementing confidence among French fans and journalists.
“Slow down, please,” he said. “There are issues, there’s always room for improvement.”
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Published 2 hours ago | Modified 17 minutes ago
CONOR ORRConor Orr is a Senior Writer for Sports Illustrated with more than 15 years of experience covering the NFL. His work has been cited in Best American Sportswriting and has won a PFWAA award. Prior to Sports Illustrated, he covered both the Giants and Jets for The Star-Ledger. Conor lives in New Jersey with his amazing wife and three children.
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Pirates Prospect Duo Earns Futures Game Nods
Pirates Prospect Duo Earns Futures Game Nods
Two Pittsburgh Pirates prospects are amongst the best future talents.Dominic Campbell|
In this story:
Pittsburgh PiratesPHILADELPHIA — The Pittsburgh Pirates have some of the best prospects in baseball and their two top talents will show everyone why they are exactly that.
Pirates right-handed pitcher Seth Hernandez and outfielder Edward Florentio will represent the team and play for the National League in the Futures Game during All-Star Weekend at Citizens Bank Park on July 12.
The Futures Game features the best prospects in baseball and both Hernandez and Florentino rank amongst the top youngsters in the sport.
It's a great honor for both players, who have proven they are on the right path towards making an impacta the major league level.
Seth Hernandez Excelling in 2026
The Pirates took Hernandez with the sixth overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft out of Corona High School in Corona, Calif. and he has done just as they hoped he would do so far in 2026.
Hernandez dominated with Single-A Bradenton to start his first professional season, with a 3-0 record over six starts, a 0.96 ERA over 28.0 innings pitched, 50 strikeouts to seven walks, a .135 batting average allowed (BAA) and a 0.71 WHIP.
The Florida State League named him their April Pitcher of the Month and he led the FSL in ERA, WHIP, BAA, strikeouts, K/9 (16.07), K/BB (7.14) and ranked second in innings pitched before earning promotion to High-A Greensboro on May 12.
Hernandez has faced much better competition in High-A, with a few shaky appearances, but has improved over his recent outings, with just one earned run over his past three starts.
He's posted a 3-1 record in eight starts with Greensboro, a 2.88 ERA over 34.1 innings pitched, 50 strikeouts to 21 walks, a .178 BAA and a 1.22 WHIP.
Scouts have noticed Hernandez and his play and Baseball America and MLB Pipeline rank him sixth and seventh overall, both as the second-best pitching prospect in baseball.
Hernandez also has an incredible pitch mix, with a four-seam fastball that reaches 100 mph, while throwing his offspeed pitches, changeup, slider and curveball with great movement and break.
Only turning 20 years old on June 28, Hernandez is on his way to serving as another great pitching prospect for the Pirates, along with the likes of Paul Skenes and Bubba Chandler in recent history.
Edward Florentino Could Be Next Great Pirates Outfielder
The Pirates didn't quite expect Florentino to have the rise he did in 2025, but at just 18 years old, he proved he had the talent and potential to really become something special.
Florentino slashed .290/.400/.548 for an OPS of .948 in 83 games across the Florida Complex League (FCL) and Single-A Bradenton, with 84 hits, 23 doubles, 16 home runs, 59 RBI, 49 walks to 78 strikeouts and 35 stolen bases on 41 attempts.
His play saw him rise up prospect rankings and Baseball America even named him their top corner outfielder.
Florentino hasn't had the same success this season, with an ankle injury that kept him from playing for most of Spring Training and not having the best numbers at Greensboro.
He has slashed .230/.372/.435 for an OPS of .807 in 53 games, with 44 hits, 46 runs scored, seven doubles, 10 home runs, 38 RBI and 42 walks to 65 strikeouts.
The Pirates have great faith in Florentino, who has a fantastic swing that can really upper-cut baseballs and send them far out for easy home runs.
Florentino is also still just 19 years old and will have time for development and improvement of every facet of his game during his time in the major leagues.
Baseball America ranks Florentino 30th overall and MLB Pipeline ranks him 31st overall.
Published 1 minute ago
DOMINIC CAMPBELLDominic writes for Pittsburgh Pirates On SI, Pittsburgh Panthers Pn SI and also, Pittsburgh Steelers On SI. A Pittsburgh native, Dominic grew up watching Pittsburgh Sports and wrote for The Pitt News as an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh, covering Pitt Athletics. He would write for Pittsburgh Sports Now after college and has years of experience covering sports across Pittsburgh.
