If the Blues can see it as a good omen, the first meeting against Australia does not bring back good memories for the world champions. Especially to Kylian Mbappé.
It will float like an air of deja vu, Tuesday, at the start of the France-Australia match, the first meeting of the Blues at the World Cup in Qatar. Four years ago, Didier Deschamps’ men had already launched their adventure in Russia by facing the Socceros.
And after this first outing against the Australians, it was hard to imagine that the French team would become world champions four weeks later. The Blues had painfully won 2-1, before their salvation only one goal against his camp from an Australian at the start of the last ten minutes. After having opened the scoring from the penalty spot just before the hour mark, the French had indeed been joined only four minutes later because of a gross handling error by Samuel Umtiti in the area.
I don’t want one who laughs
The debrief of the meeting had been salty for the Blues, and especially for Kylian Mbappé, aligned from the start alongside Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembélé. Consequence of his little effort. As proof, the number of high intensity races.
“Kylian is the one who has done the least: 3%. However, speed is your quality…” had thus launched the coach as shown in the documentary Les Bleus 2018: at the heart of the Russian epic. But the former midfielder had not only had it after the PSG striker. “I don’t want one who laughs”, he snapped. The striker of the Blues, who was then only 19 years old, was not formalized by this criticism. “He did what a coach does when his team does not do what he asks and what he expects”he had commented before catching up during the following meetings.