{"id":215582,"date":"2026-07-01T13:29:42","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T13:29:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/michael-olise-is-underrated-engine-of-frances-world-cup-revenge-tour-usa-today\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T13:29:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T13:29:42","slug":"michael-olise-is-underrated-engine-of-frances-world-cup-revenge-tour-usa-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/michael-olise-is-underrated-engine-of-frances-world-cup-revenge-tour-usa-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Olise is underrated engine of France's World Cup revenge tour – USA Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. \u2014 There’s no denying that Kylian Mbappe\u0301<\/a> is France’s<\/a> most impactful player when he’s on the pitch.
The Real Madrid forward once again showcased that by scoring two of France’s three goals<\/a> in its round of 32 match against Sweden<\/a> on Tuesday, June 30, at MetLife Stadium, currently New York New Jersey Stadium for the 2026 World Cup.<\/a>
Michael Olise, who nearly scored on a bicycle kick Tuesday<\/a>, has become just as essential to France\u2019s World Cup<\/a> revenge tour. The Bayern Munich midfielder has mastered his assignment as Les Bleus\u2019 point guard, orchestrating their attack by creating spaces and opportunities to score this tournament.
Through four matches, Olise, who is making his World Cup debut for the France national team, has been responsible for five assists, two of which came in Tuesday’s knockout win. His five assists lead all players at the World Cup,<\/a> with Brazil’s Bruno Guimara\u0303es being the closest to him at four.
His first assist on Tuesday came in the 53rd minute when he executed a beautiful\u00a0pass through the legs of a Sweden defender, which eventually found its way to Bradley Barcola,<\/a> who struck home the pass for the goal.
It would be, however, his second assist that earned him his flowers. In the 74th minute, Olise briefly dribbled around a Sweden defender before giving a pinpoint pass into the box and around the penalty area to Mbappe\u0301, who would score his second goal of the match and his 18th career World Cup goal.<\/a>
“(He was) magnificent,” France midfielder Malo Gusto said of Olise. “Michael, I think he was his usual self tonight. He really helped the team, as he always does. We\u2019re very proud to have players like that, of course. And if that keeps helping us win, we\u2019ll take it any day.”
Former France national team member-turned-Fox soccer analyst Thierry Henry also spoke highly of Olise’s World Cup performance following Les Bleus’ win on Tuesday.
“What he does off the ball is second to none,” Henry said. “Because people always stay with what the guy does on the ball and usually when you’re that type of guy, technical or whatnot, sometimes you forget about your defensive duty. He doesn’t. He thinks about the game, the way he goes about the game. Michael is a freak.
“The way he sees stuff is just not the same way that others can see stuff.”
The praise from Henry drives home the fact that Olise is essentially the “glue guy” of France’s attack. He is the guy who, just like a two-way player in basketball, dissects the opponent’s defense and tries to find ways to impact winning.
“This guy is on another planet. He’s just different. That’s why I said at the beginning of the game, MVP will always be Kylian because Kylian will put (up) numbers that nobody can do. But the most important player is Michael Olise,” Henry said.
Olise’s recent success has also caught the eye of his bench boss, Didier Deschamps.<\/a>
“Michael has been putting in some high-level performances after a very good season. But with us, he needed a little bit of time to find his feet,” Deschamps said. “He has a very important influence (on the field).”
Deschamps said an additional part of Olise’s success in recent matches has been how he complements France’s other attacking players and puts the defense and the midfield in sync with the attack.
“When Michael touches the ball, a lot happens,” Deschamps said. “He feeds the attacking players, but at the same time he links the defensive and offensive phases and the midfielders, where he often gives a good helping hand, too.”
Olise, Mbappe and France will now shift their focus to the round of 16, where they will take on Paraguay<\/a> at 5 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 4 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
“The knockout stage is difficult for everyone, even if we made things a little easier for ourselves today. We’re only in the last 16. We’re not going to get carried away. We’ll enjoy being here, then come back down to Earth within 48 hours,” Deschamps said. “We know what’s waiting for us in four days. First, we’ll take time to enjoy this victory, then we’ll have to be ready to do it all over again.”<\/p>\n

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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. \u2014 There’s no denying that Kylian Mbappe\u0301 is France’s most impactful player when he’s on the pitch.The Real Madrid forward once again showcased that by scoring two of France’s three goals in its round of 32 match against Sweden on Tuesday, June 30, at MetLife Stadium, currently New York New Jersey Stadium […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":215583,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-215582","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}