France moves on, Peru out
France’s Kylian Mbappe heads the ball during a Group C match against Peru on Thursday. French phenom Mbappe nets winner, Peruvians make themselves heard
YEKATERINBURG, RUSSIA— Out here two time zones from Moscow in the same time zone with Pakistan, where Europe meets Asia and Siberia is sort just over yonder, 32,789 crammed into the delightful bandbox of Ekaterinburg Arena on a cool June 21 with the light ample in the sky and . . .
What might linger in their memories of France 1, Peru 0, on Thursday night, which pushed France on through to the knockout round, and eliminated Peru from the World Cup?
It could be that France’s fleet phenom Kylian Mbappe, born on the excruciatingly recent day of Dec. 20, 1998 (which means he spent France’s 1998 World Cup title in the womb), scored. He scored his first World Cup goal at 19.
It came as a sort-of tap-in in the 34th minute after some pretty French stuff that ended when one of Mbappe’s fellow frightening strikers, Olivier Giroud, punched a ball from the left in the box that caromed off the leg of Peruvian defender Alberto Rodriguez and over an onrushing goalkeeper Pedro Gallese, where it threatened to hop on in even without the help of Mbappe, who had arrived rapidly per custom.
“I’ve always said the World Cup was a dream for any player,” he said, as if anyone his age could have “always said” anything.
“It was my dream as well. That dream has come true and I hope I will have more.”
So it could be that detail, or it could be that France, a team with the dazzling capacity to scintillate, did not scintillate wholly, committing insufficient scintillation. That was true especially through a dormant second half of which Manager Didier Deschamps summarized: “We were not always able to keep the ball so we had to defend and defend and defend. Twenty-five minutes, we were defending.”
With so much anticipation among its 31 million, Peru had come to Russia, lost 1-0 to Denmark, lost 1-0 to France, hoarded more possession and accuracy against both and failed only at finishing.
Yet that won’t prevail in memory either.
The sound will.
When all this gets sorted out in Moscow on July 15, the staggering sound of the Peruvian fans should linger as one of the hallmarks of this World Cup. Their national anthem rendition from Thursday night alone surely will withstand the test of memory, leaving seasoned mouths agape as it did.
That’s because they had come to dominate a stadium 10 time zones and 13,872 kilometers from Lima. They had come all the way from the 12 South latitude, 77 West longitude on the world map to the 56 North, 60 East. They had come in astonishing methods.
Giancarlo Cardozo, a 41-yearold based in Miami, had gone from Miami to Madrid to Paris to Frankfurt to Saint Petersburg then to Moscow for a few hours, then a bus and train to Saransk, then another train 26 hours to Ekaterinburg.
“These people are incredible,” Peru manager Ricardo Gareca said. “If there’s anything that really hurts me and the whole team, it’s when we saw the fans were so enthusiastic . . . we are pained at the fact we have been eliminated and we are not going to be able to play a last match for anything meaningful (for them). . . . We didn’t return their trust and passion as we would have liked.”
He aimed to solve Australia in the final Peru match “so they can at least celebrate one victory in this World Cup.”