World Cup: Henry explains why Olise, not Mbappe, is France’s most important player
Kylian Mbappe scored twice to fire France into the last 16 of the World Cup, but Michael Olise was the driving force behind a 3-0 win over Sweden, prompting Thierry Henry to declare that the Bayern Munich playmaker has become Les Bleus’ most important player.
France allowed a 3-0 win over Sweden in the round of 32their biggest win in the knockout stages of the World Cup since they beat Brazil 3-0 in the 1998 final. Mbappe hit either side of Bradley Barcola’s goal, but Olise orchestrated the attack all night, setting up two goals and producing moments of individual brilliance that left the pundits in awe.
Henry, who worked with Olise during his time with the France under-21 team, had special praise for the 24-year-old after the match. Acknowledging Mbappe’s status as France’s talisman and top goalscorer, the Arsenal legend claimed Olise is now the player to make for Didier Deschamps’ side.
“What he does on the ball is second to none,” Henry said.
“When you’re a guy like that, technical, you forget your defensive duty. No, Michael is a weirdo. The way he sees things is not the same as others, he sees everything so perfectly, so quickly, if you’re not his wave, sometimes it (gets) mad at him.
“(When I coached him), sometimes in practice he does things and you have to stop and not go, WOW, this guy is on another planet – he’s just different.
“The MVP will always be Kylian (because of his numbers) but the most important player is Michael Olise.”
Olise’s performance gave weight to Henry’s assessment.
The Bayern Munich forward was at the center of almost everything France created going forward. In the 35th minute, he almost produced one of the moments of the tournament when a loop appeared enticingly on the edge of the area.
Olise twisted his body to take an acrobatic bicycle kick that beat goalkeeper Jacob Widell Zetterstrom but crashed off the post. Ousmane Dembele came close to converting the rebound but Sweden survived.
“If he had scored there, it would have been the goal of the tournament,” Zlatan Ibrahimovic said on Fox Soccer.
France finally broke Sweden’s resistance with the stroke of halftime. Olise and Dembele combined smartly from a short corner before finding Mbappe on the left side of the penalty area. The captain clipped Viktor Gyokeres on the right leg and unstoppably shot past Jacob Widell Zetterstrom.
OLISE MASTER CLASS
Eight minutes after the restart, Olise’s vision was fully manifested again. Spotting Barcola running behind the Swedish defence, he weaved a perfectly balanced ball between two defenders, allowing the Paris Saint-Germain forward to race clear to double France’s lead.
Another memorable evening was capped off by Spílmachr in the 74th minute with his second assist of the match. Another incisive pass split Sweden’s backline and released Mbappe into the left channel, with the France captain finishing clinically to complete his brace.
The French attacking duo equally impressed former England midfielder Owen Hargreaves.
“Mbappe and Olise were absolutely outrageous,” Hargreaves said during the Fox Soccer coverage.
The numbers reflected the growing influence of Olise. His two assists made it five assists in the tournament, the most by a French player in a single World Cup since records began in 1966. He is also the first player to record five assists in a World Cup since 1994.
Olise thus broke the previous French record of three assists, which was jointly held by Antoine Griezmann (2022), Youri Djorkaeff (1998), Dominique Rocheteau (1986) and Jean Tigana (1982). The performance also added to an outstanding campaign in which he has now registered 31 assists for club and country.
France’s victory set up a round of 16 meeting with Paraguay, with Mbappe continuing his march towards the Golden Boot. Yet again it was Olise’s creativity, vision and composure in the final third that shaped the contest.
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Issued by:
Saurabh Kumar
Published on:
1 Jul 2026 07:16 IST