Ukraine – France: Olise and Mbappé kickstart road to 2026 World Cup (0-2)

France kicked off their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign with a 2-0 win against Ukraine at the Wrocław Stadium in Poland. Didier Deschamps’ charges stole to an early lead courtesy of Michael Olise, but struggled to find the finishing blow. Ukraine grew in confidence and should have equalised, before Kylian Mbappé put the game out of reach in the 82nd minute.

Tactical analysis and match report by Nick Hartland.

The start to the World Cup qualifiers perhaps came too soon for Ukraine head coach Serhiy Rebrov. The national side are in the midst of a significant injury crisis with Roman Yaremchuk recently joining Oleksandr Tymchyk, Vitalii Mykolenko, and Real Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin in the injury bay for this international break. Rebrov wasn’t willing to give himself excuses and told the press, “I am confident that we will put up a fight.”

Didier Deschamps better resembles an alchemist than a philosopher; his 13-year reign as the France head coach has never been about following an ideology. It has always been about the unglamorous pursuit of compromise and striking a balance. The last couple of years have seen his approach questioned, even if results remain consistent, with this France squad seemingly unable to lift the handbrake in matches where they are expected to be dominant. 

Rebrov went with a 4-1-4-1 shape. Anatoliy Trubin deputised in goal in place of Lunin, behind a back four of Oleksandr Zinchenko, Mykola Matviyenko, Illia Zabarnyi, and Yukhym Konoplya. Brentford’s Yehor Yarmolyuk sat behind a midfield of Oleksiy Hutsulyak, Heorhiy . . .