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.
