France did on Tuesday at MetLife Stadium what Spain, Brazil and the Netherlands all failed to do at this World Cup—win its opening match.The 3–1 win against Senegal isn’t the most emphatic scoreline from the first round of group-stage fixtures so far, an honor that belongs Germany (7–1), followed by Sweden (5–1) and the United States (4–1). But it gives French fans enough to be pleased with overall, especially considering the sluggish start.Back in 2002, this fixture provided one of the all-time great World Cup shocks.Senegal was brand new to the global stage at that time, emerging from an African scene that had been headlined through the 1990s by Cameroon and Nigeria. Meanwhile, France was the reigning world and European champion after successive tournament wins since 1998. It was, beyond a doubt, a monumental mismatch that, on paper, should only have ended one way.Except, it didn’t.Papa Bouba Diop scored the only goal of the game. | KIM JAE-HWAN/AFP/Getty ImagesCurrent Senegal manager Pape Thiaw was watching from the bench that day in Seoul, South Korea, a backup player with a front row seat as Papa Bouba Diop scored the most unlikely winning goal. Diop sadly passed away in 2020, aged just 42, but his place in World Cup history is set in stone.Didier Deschamps wasn’t involved, leaving international soccer straight after Euro 2000. Still, many of his teammates were part of the team, and France’s boss wished for a “different story” in 2026.At times, it didn’t look like he was going to get it. Senegal, of course no longer such a massive underdog at a fourth World Cup, was dangerous and never out of the match.Nicolas Jackson Steps UpNicolas Jackson nearly smashed a goal on Tuesday. | Darrian Traynor/Getty ImagesNicolas Jackson had a lot to prove coming into the World Cup. Having been deemed surplus to requirements by Chelsea last summer—with poor on-field discipline impossible to ignore—his loan at Bayern Munich subsequently underwhelmed, before a red card in Senegal’s final warmup match.The 24-year-old played with the raw directness that makes him worth talking about in the first place. Midway through the first half, a driving run almost handed Senegal a shock lead, as Jackson’s shot rebounded off the base of the near post. The ball then ricocheted off the leg of diving France goalkeeper Mike Maignan and only narrowly missed the goal.At a similar point in the second half, Jackson smashed the ball beyond Maignan’s reach into the net. It was right after France had taken the lead and would have had a huge impact on how the remaining quarter of the match played out—an offside flag disallowed the goal.Jackson wasn’t alone. Late in the first half, Ismaïla Sarr missed the best chance of the match up to that point, while the Lions of Teranga had only five fewer touches in the opponent’s box than France. Teenage substitute Ibrahim Mbaye then reduced France’s lead to 2–1 in stoppage time at the end of the match, threatening a nervous finish for Les Bleus until Kylian Mbappé intervened.France’s Game of Two HalvesDidier Deschamps needed more from his players. | Brad Smith/ISI Photos/Getty ImagesWhen France eventually showed up in the second half, Senegal did its best to keep pace, but that was ultimately too difficult.Mbappé was poor until the interval. The Real Madrid superstar struggled to imprint himself on the match, and nothing seemed like it was going right—multiple attempted dribbles saw him only lose the ball, and he was too weak in his individual duels.As a team, France lacked energy, tempo and intensity. Expected goals (xG) by halftime amounted to just 0.02, compared to Senegal’s 0.44. There had been only one shot, which was off-target, and three touches of the ball in the opponent’s box. In the second half, it was a completely different story.Whatever Deschamps said behind closed doors in the locker room worked.It started with more incisive passing and quicker movement from Désiré Doué and Michael Olise, and soon bled into Mbappé, too. Olise’s measured pass, seeing the match a step ahead of the Senegal defense, allowed him to feed the ball into the space his teammate was about to run into, after which came the clinical first-time finish from Mbappé to equal Olivier Giroud’s all-time France goal record.Bradley Barcola, a player perhaps performing for his club future after reportedly growing frustrated with a secondary role at Paris Saint-Germain, doubled the lead quickly after coming on. Although Mbaye’s strike for Senegal was briefly a cause for concern, Mbappé—by this point bristling with confidence—went ahead and broke Giroud’s record with his second of the match to restore the two-goal cushion, quash the potential comeback and seal maximum points.If France continues to play like that in upcoming group matches against Iraq and Norway, and then deep into the knockout rounds, a third World Cup title is very much within reach. But the France of the opening 45 minutes will get absolutely nowhere near it.READ THE LATEST WORLD CUP NEWS, ANALYSIS AND INSIGHT FROM SI FCAdd us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow