As the ceremonies following the World Cup final have gotten longer, with more and more awards to be handed out, a slightly jarring phenomenon has become more prevalent. It’s that of the bitterly disappointed player being forced to look grateful as he is handed an award that, in the moment, he clearly couldn’t care less about.
Kylian Mbappé may in time come to cherish his Golden Boot—even if it seemed to have broken in his hands as he posed on the stage. He may come to celebrate the fact that he became only the second man to score a hat trick in a World Cup final. But his devastation at the end of France’s shootout defeat to Argentina was clear, even as the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, sought to comfort him. And the truth is that Mbappé had a stranger World Cup than the goals and highlights and global praise might otherwise dictate.
It was, in truth, a very weird World Cup for all of Paris Saint-Germain’s front three. Neymar went home in tears after the quarterfinal, his remarkable goal to tie Pelé’s Brazilian men’s scoring record a footnote in a penalty shootout defeat to Croatia. Mbappé ended up siting desolate on the bench, his No. 10 shirt draped over his head after reviving France’s final hope, only to miss out on a second straight title following the shootout. And Messi celebrated, although only after being draped in a bisht, a ceremonial robe, by the Emir, so he received the trophy with his Argentina shirt obscured. The symbolism of that moment was clear: Qatar pays all three, and, although Neymar was eliminated early, it got its showdown between two of its stars who scored five goals between them in the final.
Natacha Pisarenko/AP
But beyond sportswashing and ownership, there were other questions about Mbappé, who represents a very modern sort of forward and poses a very modern question. He scored eight goals. He scored three in the final, transforming a game that had seemed lost into an impossibly dramatic contest. And yet, beyond the goals, his knockout stage still left plenty to be desired.
That may sound like an absurd quibble. Mbappé scored two brilliant goals against Poland. He converted two penalties (plus one in the shootout) and smashed in a sensational volley to equalize against Argentina. Is five goals in the knockouts not enough? Possibly not. For as brilliant a goalscorer as Mbappé is, he is a player who largely refuses to perform any defensive responsibilities, something in which he has been indulged at PSG, where celebrity rules. He doesn’t track his fullback, which risks exposing his left back. That’s a particular issue when that fullback is Theo Hernández, a naturally attacking player—a far more front-footed player than his brother, Lucas, who missed the majority of the tournament after tearing his ACL in the opener vs. Australia.
Even Poland, which was broadly dismal at this World Cup, created chances against France. That should have been a warning sign, even though France won the last-16 encounter 3–1. For England in the quarterfinal, Bukayo Saka caused chaos on the right, repeatedly getting a run at Hernandez. Mbappé was kept so quiet in that game, one great race against Kyle Walker aside, that his expected goals came in at 0.0.
He was only fleetingly involved in the semifinal against Morocco as well, managing just one shot. He was offside three times and lost the ball on four occasions. Achraf Hakimi, the Morocco right back and his PSG teammate and close friend, meanwhile, took him to link up with Hakim Ziyech. In both those games, France improved markedly after Mbappé had been moved into the middle and the more diligent Marcus Thuram was brought on to shore up that left side.
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It was, for the vast majority of the final, a similar story. Argentina played a 4-4-2 using Nahuel Molina to try to keep Mbappé quiet. Up until the 70th minute, he touched the ball only 20 times and only once in the box. At the same time, Rodrigo De Paul, on the right of the midfield, was able to get forward, supporting Messi as he sought to expose Hernández. As the French midfield shuffled across to compensate, Ángel Di María was gifted acres of space on the left, which led to Argentina’s first two goals.
But then, when Nicolas Otamendi’s clumsy challenge let France back into the game, Mbappé was unerring from the spot before his magnificent volley. This is the equation: are his goals enough to tolerate the impact on the rest of the team, the imbalance he causes and his lack of defensive work? At the national level, where the game is less sophisticated and game-changers can be compensated for—as Argentina compensated for Messi—it is probably not such an issue, and it would not have been so acute here had Lucas Hernández been fit.
At the club level, though, it is a problem. The lack of pressing and defensive work from the front three, however brilliant they may be technically, is one of the reasons PSG often seems to go out of the Champions League cheaply and earlier than anticipated (and Bayern Munich will provide an immediate test this winter). There are questions every coach who works with Mbappé has to ask. Is his lack of work essential to his goalscoring? Can you get him to press and track? And if not, how can you cover for the fact the fullback picking him up will often be able to get forward without issue?
As Mbappé approaches the next phase of his career—he turns 24 on Tuesday, now has two World Cups in his rear view, has scored in two World Cup finals and has the world’s attention—they’re questions that will follow. The goals undoubtedly will as well. With 12 already in the World Cup, he could smash Miroslav Klose’s all-time men’s record of 16. He and Erling Haaland are resetting the standard for goals at a young age in the Champions League. But for the team and club success to go along with the highlights and records and individual trophies, it might take a further evolution to his game.
