Defending champions France have become the first team to qualify for the last 16 of the World Cup.

Thanks to two goals from Kylian Mbappé, the 1998 and 2018 world champions also won their second group match 2-1 (0-0) against Denmark on Saturday.

The Paris Saint-Germain star striker scored in the 61st and 86th minutes in front of 42,860 spectators at the 974 Stadium in Doha. Andreas Christensen equalised in the 68th minute.

The Danes had been considered secret favourites before the tournament. But after only one point from the first two games, the semi-finalists of the European Championship 2021 are now threatened with elimination from the preliminary round.

Thanks to Australia’s 1-0 win over Tunisia, Kasper Hjulmand’s team still has a chance of advancing. However, they need a win against Australia in their final group match on Wednesday.

Hjulmand had reacted to the disappointing 0-0 draw against Tunisia with an unexpected number of changes. He had to replace the injured Thomas Delaney. Captain Simon Kjaer and two thirds of his attack were left out. The Frankfurt Bundesliga professional Jesper Lindström, among others, benefited from this and made his starting debut at a World Cup.

The Danes showed a clear improvement, but were clearly inferior to the French even in this improved state. The statistics showed 12:2 shots on goal for France in the first half alone. Despite all the individual class of attackers Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappé, Ousmane Dembelé and Olivier Giroud, however, it took two headers from defensive players Raphael Varane (13th) and Adrien Rabiot (21st) to actually become dangerous.

Despite this, the difference in performance between the two teams was so great that in hindsight it seems all the more remarkable that the Danes beat the French twice in the Nations League in June and September this year. A Griezmann pass, Mbappé’s run and a foul by former Gladbach player Andreas Christensen that bordered on an emergency stop: this scene from the 20th minute illustrated the Danish difficulties in keeping France’s outstanding attack under control.

After the break, the Danes became more courageous and kept the world champions busy in their own half of the pitch. However, the French did not allow this for more than a quarter of an hour.

Griezmann missed a great chance in the 60th minute when he had a free shot on the edge of the box. A minute later, Mbappé scored after a one-two with Theo Hernandez to make it 1-0.

The 1998 world champions sat in the stands and applauded: Youri Djorkaeff next to Liliam Thuram, whose son Marcus Thuram of Borussia Mönchengladbach was substituted immediately afterwards. One seat further on sat Denmark’s goalkeeping legend Peter Schmeichel, whose son Kasper was also on the pitch.

The Schmeichels were then jubilant because their team showed an impressive reaction similar to the beginning of the second half: Only eight minutes after the 0:1 Christensen scored after a corner kick kicked by Christian Eriksen and extended by Joachim Andersen.

After that, both teams had several more chances to win the game: Frankfurt’s Lindström (73rd) and substitute Martin Braithwaite (81st) missed them for Denmark. Aurélien Tchouaméni (78th), Jules Koundé (79th) and Rabiot (80th) missed them for France. But the world champions still had Mbappé.