Jackson was named in Senegal’s starting line-up leading their attack, joined in their side by former Blues Edouard Mendy and Kalidou Koulibaly, with Mamadou Sarr among the substitutes.

France started with seven of the players who began the last World Cup final four years ago, but there was no room for Malo Gusto, the Chelsea full back remaining on the French bench in New Jersey. The game was played in the same venue in which he lifted the FIFA Club World Cup with the Blues last summer, with the same referee who booked Gusto on that day in charge again.

It was Jackson who came closer than anyone to opening the scoring during an even first half, being desperately unlucky not to find the net moments before the hydration break. West Ham United full-back El Hadji Malick Diouf did well to dispossess Kylian Mbappe and quickly set Jackson running into the left channel. The angle was against the striker, but he fired low with power left-footed to beat goalkeeper Mike Maignan.

However, he saw his shot strike the foot of the near post, then ricochet off Maignan’s leg to bounce back towards goal, only to slip inches wide and cross the line for a corner.

Even with that bad luck, Senegal should still have gone in for the half-time break with the lead. With the very last kick of first-half stoppage time, Ismaila Sarr was found seven yards out from goal by Sadio Mane, but got his effort all wrong and skyed the bouncing ball over the crossbar.

Senegal had been arguably the better team to that point, but when play resumed after half-time, France began to live up to the pre-tournament favourites label many people had assigned to them.

Mendy had already been called into action with two important saves and Mane had escaped a VAR penalty review against him when Mbappe was found in the box by former Chelsea Academy player Michael Olise and swept in the opening goal first time.

Almost straight away after the restart, Jackson struck back for Senegal, getting in behind the defence and smashing a first-time finish high past Maignan, but he was denied a goal again, this time by the offside flag as replays showed he went too early with his run.

Instead, it was France who extended their lead as they asserted their dominance as the game went on, Bradley Barcola coming off the bench and scoring almost immediately, dinking a clever finish over Mendy when he went through one-on-one from Adrien Rabiot’s through-ball.

Senegal made changes late on as they looked for a way back into the game, Jackson one of those making way, and more goals came, but they didn’t change the outcome. The Africans pulled one back in stoppage time through a fine solo effort from Ibrahim Mbaye, but Mbappe had the last say, going straight down the other end and smashing into the top corner from 30 yards to make the final score 3-1. Mbappe’s two goals saw him surpass Olivier Giroud’s record and become his country’s all-time top scorer.

France will now look to book their place in the next round when they take on Iraq in Philadelphia at 10pm UK time on Monday 22 June, while Senegal will hope to get points on the board back in New Jersey at 1am UK time the next day, Norway their opponents.