I heard someone say recently that the France forward Olivier Giroud, their new record goalscorer, “deserves his flowers”. He does. Before each game for France at this World Cup, all eyes are on Kylian Mbappé, the star who has scored five goals in five games, but the impact of Giroud, who has four in four, flies under the radar. In the buildup to England’s 2-1 loss to France the story was the same: will Kyle Walker be the player to stop Mbappé? How effective is Mbappé going to be able to be?
This matches a narrative that has stuck with Giroud throughout his career. We are so preoccupied with the speed, ball control and dribbling skills of players such as Ousmane Dembélé and Mbappé, that top strikers such as Giroud are overlooked.
