Football Daily | Mbappé and France are on the march. Who’s going to stop them?
In today’s Football Daily: It’s Mbappé’s World Cup – we’re just watching it
KYLIAN SOFTLY …
Marchons, marchons. Fans of France’s remaining rivals at the Geopolitics World Cup – and lovers of business-end big tournament jeopardy – were left sorely disappointed as the favourites steamrolled Morocco. Didier Deschamps’ cohort of strutting roosters had their feathers ruffled by Paraguay’s spectacular heel turn in the last 16, but were largely back in cruise control for their 2-0 quarter-final victory in (a venue near) Boston on Thursday.
Truly, this was no close shave at [Gillette] Stadium, despite Kylian Mbappé’s first-half penalty being saved. He won the spot-kick himself, nicking the ball past Noussair Mazraoui and embracing the inevitable contact – not so much having the hasty full-back’s number as presenting him with an itemised data dump. Mbappé couldn’t cash in, though, his tame effort collected by Morocco keeper Yassine ‘Bono’ Bounou. The France captain may have been distracted by: a) an insane amount of faffing from the referee; b) Bono whirring his arms and legs at high speed; and/or c) organising the team’s travel itinerary for the semi-final.
Mbappé’s moment of unexpected weakness livened up an otherwise attritional first half, but he made up for it in style on the hour mark, curling home in clinical fashion for his eighth GWC goal. It was a spectacular finish, met with a collective Gallic shrug from armchair fans as France continue to make the audacious look routine. Six minutes later, the jig was up for Morocco when Bono allowed Ousmane Dembélé’s shot to slip through his fingers. One of this tournament’s very best sides, the Atlas Lions were finished, with or without that error – they ended the game with one shot on target and an xG dangerously close to zero.
“Many people say Kylian is a dictator, that he only thinks of himself,” Deschamps said afterwards, demonstrating an impressive awareness of various Social Media Disgraces for a 57-year-old. “He’s the captain and he’s exemplary.” Even the sight of Mbappé resting an ice pack on his ankle proved a false alarm for rival fans. He is expected to be fit for Tuesday’s semi-final in (a stadium somewhat close to) Dallas. France will face either Spain – yet to concede a goal in five matches – or an undead Belgium side who we could have sworn were knocked out ages ago. Still, if anyone can kill them off for good, Kylian can. He’s on a one-man mission to claim a GWC/Golden Boot/all-time top-scorer treble and ruin Lionel Messi’s retirement. It’s Mbappé’s World Cup – we’re just watching it.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I remember the first day I finished working with them. They were about to go for their match and I was on a flight to LA. I prayed for them and went to sleep. When I woke up, and it was time to get off the flight, my phone was buzzing. [Marcus] Rashford had scored and, wow, I was happy for them. He told me he loved his hair and lots of attention was paid to his look after the goal. But I didn’t know how big the [Geopolitics] World Cup was then. I know we love football in the UK but I didn’t know to this extent – like all the love I’m getting, with people saying: ‘Thank you for looking after our boys.’ I’m like: ‘Wow! Give me another medal!” – Donald McRae meets Jayèma, the east London hair stylist who has taken over the GWC.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
With the wealth of signings (Cerci, Stanway, Reuteler) already this summer, I wasn’t expecting any more. But then Arsenal follow in Hollywood’s footsteps and get Ona Batlle after another!” – James Vortkamp-Tong.
Please don’t refer to the USA USA USA as ‘Trump’s boys’ (yesterday’s Football Daily). From what I understand, they are sane, good sportsmen, well-liked, and a team to be proud of, quite unlike the person in question” – James Driskell.
A fellow reader of the France v Morocco MBM commented on how inevitable France look at the moment. This made me wonder, could this team go down in history as Les Inévitables?” – Peter Oh.
That was a rather touching last line reference to Bonnie Tyler (yesterday’s Football Daily, full email edition). One would like to read a story about the England team – average year of birth around 1998 – playing her classic tune in the locker room and singing along. Until they got to the hooky lyric, ‘Every now and then, I fall apart’. Good luck on Saturday, lads!’ – Mike Wilner.
If you have any, please send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s prizeless letter o’ the day goes to … Mike Wilner. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, are here.
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