EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Kylian Mbappé scored twice to move past Pelé and Lionel Messi with 14 World Cup goals, Bradley Barcola added another and France rebounded from a surprisingly poor first half to beat Senegal 3-1 Tuesday in its opener.
Mbappé had 14 touches in the scoreless first half, the fewest of any player, then showed his brilliance when he put Les Bleus ahead in the 66th minute. He burst past Senegal captain Kalidou Koulibaly, turned onto a diagonal pass from Michael Olise and slid the ball past goalkeeper Édouard Mendy from just outside the 6-yard box.
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Barcola entered in the 80th and doubled the lead two minutes later, running onto Adrien Rabiot's through ball and lifting the ball past Mendy for his fourth international goal.
Senegal forward Ibrahim Mbaye cut the deficit with an angled shot five minutes into stoppage time. Mbappé then had a spectacular long-range goal a minute later, over Mendy's outstretched arm and just under the crossbar.
“It's relief. We did have some apprehension,” France coach Didier Deschamps said through a translator. “It's always great to start with a win. It’s not decisive, but it’s good to start in that way.”
Trying to reach its third straight World Cup final, France plays Iraq on Monday in Philadelphia, then closes Group I on June 26 against Norway at Foxborough, Massachusetts. Senegal meets Norway on Monday at MetLife Stadium and finishes the first round against Iraq at Toronto.
Mbappé moved one ahead of Messi and Just Fontaine on the World Cup career scoring list and is tied with Germany's Gerd Müller, trailing only Brazil’s Ronaldo (15) and Germany's Miroslav Klose (16). Mbappé also set a French record with 58 international goals, one more than Olivier Giroud.
France was outshot 5-1 in the first half, which resembled a tentative friendly. Senegal striker Nicolas Jackson’s 25th-minute shot hit a post, rebounded off the heel of goalkeeper Mike Maignan and bounced into touch.
“In the first half, we weren’t good, they were better than us,” France defender William Saliba said.
Les Bleus then outshot their opponents 10-1 in the second half.
With fans in Senegal denied visas by the U.S. government, supporters of the Lions of Teranga appeared limited to a few sections in MetLife Stadium’s southwest corner on a sunny 77-degree Fahrenheit (25-degree Celsius) afternoon. While most of the stadium was filled with a just-under sellout crowed of 80,545, there were empty seats in a mezzanine club level, which has air-conditioned suites behind the outdoor chairs.
Two hours before kickoff, tickets dropped to as low as $69 on FIFA’s resale site. FIFA sold tickets at $220-$620 in December.
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AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup