Kylian Mbappé scored and set up a goal as France came from behind to beat Iceland 2-1 to take control of Group D in the European qualifying pools for next year's World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
The Real Madrid star swept home a penalty on the stroke of half-time to cancel out Andri Gudjohnsen's opener for the visitors at the Parc des Princes in Paris.
The strike in the 22nd minute came against the run of play as France dominated the opening exchanges.
Marcus Thuram twice went close during the early pressure on the Iceland goal.
But midway through the first-half, France gifted Iceland the lead.
Trying to play the ball out from defence, midfielder Michael Olise slid a pass across his own penalty area into the path of Andri Gudjohnsen who intercepted and prodded past the France goalkeeper Mike Maignan.
Olise almost atoned for his error 10 minutes later but the Iceland goalkeeper Elías Rafn Olafsson denied him instant redemption.
Mbappé leads the fightback
The road to salvation started just before the pause. France were awarded a penalty following a review by the video assistants who spotted Mikael Anderson's hack on Thuram.
Mbappé stepped forward and thrashed his spot kick high into the top right hand corner to notch up his 52nd goal for his country and level proceedings.
Olise swept a shot onto the crossbar a few minutes after the restart as France upped the pace and intensity.
But Iceland held firm until the hour mark. Aurélien Tchouaméni lofted a pass over the Iceland midfield into the path of Mbappé who charged towards goal.
With the stadium anticipating another dead-eyed strike, he drew out Olafsson and passed for Bradley Barcola to slot the ball into the empty net.
Relief greeted the goal. But trepidation infiltrated proceedings with 20 minutes remaining.
Tchouaméni was sent off after a video assistant review for a late challenge on Jón Dagur Þorsteinsson.
France boss Didier Deschamps reordered his midfield and brought on Kingsley Coman and Adrien Rabiot for Barcola and Thuram while his Iceland counterpart Arnar Gunnlaugsson reassembled his forward ranks.
The gambit appeared to pay dividends three minutes from time when Gudjohnsen bundled the ball over the line.
The 23-year-old was denied his brace. Referee Antonio Nobre chalked off the goal following a video review for a foul on Ibrahima Konaté in the build-up.
"There are a lot of things to go away and look at," Mbappé told French broadcaster TF1.
"We can obviously get better but we've got six points from our two games and you can't do better than that."
France lead the group following wins over Ukraine and Iceland who stay second with three points after Ukraine drew 1-1 with Azerbaijan.
On 10 October, France host Azerbaijan while Iceland entertain Ukraine.
