Giroud Record Goal And Mbappé's Brace, Helps The World Champions France Defeat Poland And Advance To The Quarter-Finals Of The 2022 World Cup.

 The world champions are unstoppable as they cruised past Poland in the round-of-16 to advance to the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

France had become the become the first defending World Cup winner to reach the round of 16 since Brazil in 2006, having qualified through the group stage and advanced to the round of 16 with a game to spare, allowing Deschamps to rest his major players in France's last group game against Tunisia which they surprisingly lost 1-0.

On the other hand, Poland luckily found themselves in the knockout stages despite their 2-0 loss to Argentina in the last group game.

At one point in the simultaneous encounter, the White and Reds were on their way to round 16 only because they had less yellow cards than Mexico, but Saudi Arabia's late strike against the Mexico, guaranteed Poland made it to the knockout round for the first time since 1986.

It was Olivier Giroud who eventually put Les Bleus in front just before half-time at the Al Thumama Stadium.

In the process, Giroud also became France's all-time record top-scorer, overtaking Thierry Henry who had 51 goals to his name. 

In the second-half, Kylian Mbappe doubled France's lead with his 4th goal of the tournament in the 74th minute. Mbappe doubled the lead with a terrific strike in the top-corner in 90+1 minute to make it 3-0 for Didier Deschamps men. 

The PSG star now has five goals in this World Cup as he leads the race for the Golden Boot. He is the first player in France’s history to score 4 plus goals at multiple World Cups.

At 23 years and 349 days, Mbappé is the youngest player to reach five knockout stage goals at the World Cup since Pelé in 1958 (17y 249d).

In 11 World Cup games, Mbappe has scored 9 World Cup goals, Germany's Miroslav Klose holds the record of most goals scored in the tournament with 16 goals.

In just two editions, Mbappé now has more World Cup goals than legends Diego Maradona, Cristiano Ronaldo, Suárez, Neymar, Thierry Henry, Rivaldo, Kempes, and more.

He currently has same goals as Lionel Messi, but 3 World Cups less than the Argentinian star.

A late Robert Lewandowski penalty saw Poland salvage some pride in 90+9 minute, as the Barcelona striker sends Lloris the wrong way to get his second goal of the tournament. No clean sheet for Lloris on his big day, but a nice way for Lewandowski to end his World Cup story.

It's France who qualified for the quarter-finals, and remain on course to become the first team to successfully defend the World Cup since Brazil 60 years ago.

The two-time World Cup winners prepare to face the winner of the other round-of-16 clash England vs Senegal later tonight.