Mbappe keeps pace with Messi by scoring double

PHILADELPHIA: 

Kylian Mbappé scored twice to move into a tie for second in career World Cup goals with 16, and France played through the tournament’s first rain delay to beat Iraq 3-0 on Monday and advance to the knockout stage. 

Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé also scored for Les Bleus, giving fans who stuck out a rainy night in Philadelphia a reason to cut loose. 

Mbappé scored in the 14th and 54th minutes to cap a momentous and soggy 100th international appearance for one of the best players in the world. 

Mbappe’s first goal gave France a 1-0 lead at halftime, when heavy rain and an incoming thunderstorm prompted a delay of just over two hours and forced the grounds crew to squeegee water off the swampy Kentucky bluegrass at Lincoln Financial Field. 

Scoreboard messages directed the crowd to take shelter in the stadium’s covered areas, warning that a severe storm was on the way. Sheets of rain continued to fall through halftime as fans wrapped themselves in ponchos and huddled in the concourse and under balconies. 

Iraq coach Graham Arnold wrestled with a poncho for a few seconds before he pulled it over his head and returned to the covered dugout. French fans who stayed in their seats in the last few covered rows of the top of the stadium waved the country’s flag, and many splashed around the concourse to pass time.