Olise shows off with France before the World Cup

The French team, with a hat-trick from Michael Olise, beat Northern Ireland (3-1) in their last friendly match in preparation for the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada, while the Netherlands beat Uzbekistan (2-1) with a penalty goal in the last minute.

At the Pierre-Mauroy Stadium in Lille, the French team did not reserve any troops and took the field with an eleven that they will most likely form in the first match of the World Cup, with the Madrid players Kylian Mbappé and Aurélien Tchouaméni and the Barcelona player Jules Koundé in it, and the French dominance was absolute.

In the 21st minute, the forward caught a rejected ball after his Real Madrid teammate hit the post and managed to score, although everything was ruled out due to offside. It was Olise who managed to break the deadlock just before the break, after the Northern Irish goalkeeper cleared a shot from Désiré Doué (min.43).

The Bayern Munich winger increased the lead as soon as he returned from the locker room thanks to a very powerful shot from the edge of the area (min.49), before Mbappé tried his luck with a whip that was stopped by Pierce Charles. Northern Ireland closed the gap through Patrick Kelly (min.64), but Olise was in charge of clearing up the doubts with a left-footed shot into the top corner that established the final 3-1 (min.75).

France will debut in the World Cup next Tuesday, June 16, against Senegal in the first match of Group I, which is completed by Norway and Iraq.

For its part, the Netherlands, with the ‘culer’ Frenkie de Jong as a starter, achieved a victory against Uzbekistan (2-1) at the Icahn Stadium in New York before starting the World Cup event. Two goals from Cody Gakpo allowed Ronald Koeman’s team to defeat the Asian team, who had managed to tie in a stoppage time in which the Liverpool striker came to the rescue.

After half an hour, Jakhongir Urozov brought down Crysencio Summerville in the area, and Gakpo was in charge of converting the maximum penalty. Igor Sergeev, in the 92nd minute, equalized for the Uzbeks, but the ‘red’ attacker once again stood before the eleven meters, after a penalty on Jan Paul van Hecke, and scored his shot.

The ‘Oranje’ will debut in the World Cup next Sunday, June 14, against Japan in Group F in which they will also face Sweden and Tunisia.