France tops Iraq in Philadelphia’s 3rd FIFA World Cup game

On Jun 23, 2026

This story originally appeared on WHYY’s Billy Penn.

Philly’s third FIFA World Cup game set up another David versus Goliath matchup, like Brazil against Haiti was on Friday. France has won the World Cup twice, in 1998 and 2018, and entered the tournament as one of the favorites. Iraq had only made one World Cup before this year’s, back in 1986.

Like Brazil versus Haiti, the upset wasn’t on the cards. France won 3-0 in front of a sellout crowd during a delay-causing summer downpour to book a place in the knockout rounds. Captain and all-time leading goalscorer Kylian Mbappé made his 100th appearance for Les Bleus and scored twice.

Saif Algburi, the owner of Crispy Wonders Baghdad Restaurant in Northeast Philadelphia, laid out his plan Monday.

He planned to go to Philly’s only Iraqi restaurant early to make sure everything was running properly and his employees didn’t need anything. He then will make sure all the TV’s are set to play Iraq’s FIFA World Cup 2026 game against France, then he and his family will head down to Philadelphia Stadium for the game.

All the while he was hoping the Lions of Mesopotamia could pull off one of the biggest upsets in the tournament’s history.

The day before the game, the city was treated to its third gathering of soccer fans in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This time it was fans of both teams celebrating together.

After the site-sharing and global camaraderie though, some Iraq fans tried to put France under the Rocky Statue curse by throwing a France jersey around the Rocky statue’s neck.

For an Iraq team still searching for its first-ever World Cup win, or draw, a curse could have helped the uphill battle of upsetting France.

“I asked if we could play three goalkeepers, but they said no,” Iraq coach Graham Arnold joked in Sunday’s press conference.

On the other hand, if French coach Didier Deschamps was allowed to play every French player he thought deserved to start, he would have 20 players on the field instead of 11. He did not divulge which six players in his squad would remain on the bench though.

Up in Northeast Philly, Crispy Wonders was having one of its busiest weekends ever. Algburi opened the restaurant two years ago to provide authentic home food for the Iraqi community in the area. He said that this week, the restaurant has been visited by Iraqi soccer fans from all over the continent. Some told him they were skipping work for this game.

Jamal Aldin travelled in from Detroit with his brother who lives in Canada and a group from other parts of Michigan. He said the group searched for a place to eat on Google and Philly’s only Iraqi restaurant came up.

He said that the Iraq national team’s World Cup campaign was helping to unify all Iraqis, whatever their politics, religious sects or ethnic backgrounds.

“Honestly when Iraq played in the qualification, the Iraqi people were united and they are united in every match they are playing now,” he said.

Iraq were the very last team to qualify for the World Cup, competing in March’s World Cup 2026 Playoff Tournament in Guadalupe, Mexico. The team took on Bolivia on March 31 and won 2-1. Many players on the team had to make a long three-day journey from Baghdad to Mexico, including an overland crossing into Jordan, to get to that game, due to the Iran war.

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