Didier Deschamps, coach of France: “In the second half we were in complete control of the game, bearing in mind that it wasn’t easy given what happened with the long stoppage. You can’t fight against rain and lightning. We respect the local rules, we have to adapt. These are very specific circumstances and I hope they won’t happen again. It was very important then that we secured the lead with more goals. Tonight we secured promotion and the third game against Norway will be crucial for our final position in the group.’
Kylian Mbappé, the author of two goals for France: “It was a very long evening. Emotionally it was very difficult to concentrate because we had to stay in the dressing room for almost two hours. But we did our job and we are very happy with how we played. If I want to keep up with what Leo can do, I will have to do even more. Leo always scores goals and always will. So I don’t follow what he does, I just focus on helping my team. I don’t think about records at the moment. The priority is for us to perform as well as possible as a team.”
Graham Arnold, coach of Iraq: “I think it’s the first time I’ve experienced anything like a storm stoppage in football as a coach or a player. It obviously made things a lot more complicated for the players. I said to them during the break, ‘Who can mentally reset and focus on the game?'”
