‘15 lungs’ Kante my MVP
The quarterfinal still had almost 10 minutes to play, but Jose Gimenez was gushing water like the Iguazu Falls. If France had lingered much longer over their free-kick, the desolate Uruguayan fullback would have flooded the pitch. That is the effect N’Golo Kante has on people. France’s diminutive holding midfielder reduces grown men to tears.
Kante was just completing one of the great games in World Cup history. Kante had intercepted Uruguay 32 times in the match, and on only three of those occasions had France failed to retain possession. That is scarcely feasible. Kante had won back possession for France 29 times against some of the finest players on the planet.
Doubtless Fifa will give the Golden Ball for the tournament’s best player to some slick attacker or strolling midfielder. It usually does. At the last three World Cups Lionel Messi, Diego Forlan and Zinedine Zidane have won the award. And at this year’s tournament, the betting for man of the tournament is being headed by Kylian Mbappe, Harry Kane, Eden Hazard, Luka Modric, Romelu Lukaku, Antoine Griezmann and Kevin De Bruyne.
You get the picture. If you score beautiful goals, you are in with a chance. If you have the pace of a 60 metre sprinter or the footwork of Nureyev you are in with a chance. But in the modern history of the Golden Ball only two defenders, Fabio Cannavaro and Lilian Thuram, have even made the top three. And of holding midfielders, the sweaty men of the game, there is not a glimpse.
Maybe Eric Cantona finished them off. Cantona once said of the manager of this current France team: ‘‘Deschamps gets by because he always gives 100 per cent, but he will never be anything more than a water carrier. You can find players like him on every street corner.’’
At least Didier Deschamps won a World Cup as a player. Then after Deschamps came Claude Makelele and the world began to understand this new holding midfielder. At least the players understood. Makelele was venerated by his team-mates at Real Madrid. Only the owner didn’t have a clue as to Makelele’s value.
Florentino Perez sold him to Chelsea, saying: ‘‘We will not miss Makelele. His technique is average, he lacks the speed and skill to take the ball past opponents, and 90 percent of his distribution either goes backwards or sideways. Younger players will arrive who will cause Makelele to be forgotten.’’
And so a great Chelsea team, playing 4-3-3 was born, and Real Madrid, deprived of Makelele, suffered a sort of footballing dementia. Madrid splashed their cash at David Beckham, prompting Zidane to say: ‘‘Why put another layer of gold paint on the Bentley when you are losing the entire engine?’’
And so we come to Kante, the first player to truly emulate, even surpass what Makelele achieved. Makelele says: ‘‘I don’t want N’Golo Kante to be compared with me. Kante can be Kante. I want him to be more than me, but I love to watch him play because you can see in him the joy. I love the kind of player like that, who plays for the team. Sometimes you see a team with big players, but for me whenever a team is winning it is because of spirit.’’
Kante is the spirit of this France team and France are the best team in the World Cup, regardless of the result against Belgium. But if Belgium bypass Kante and try to attack France at the edges, as Argentina did with fair success, then Belgium have the talent to beat France. The beauty of football is that the inferior team nearly always has a chance.
But even Argentina could not keep Kante absolutely quiet by avoiding him. He still broke up play on several crucial occasions and his understanding of the pass is second to none. Against Uruguay, Kante made 34 passes in a row without giving the ball away. In both the game against Uruguay and Argentina, Kante did not concede possession of the ball in the second half. That’s 52 passes without a mistake.
Some of it was sideways and short. But there were also those poetic one touch passes that open up space. Against Argentina Kante made three in a matter of 10 seconds and France were away again. It was also Kante’s little surge from the edge of his box and leftfooted pass into Griezmann’s stronger foot that initiated the goal of the tournament. Griezmann’s flick, Olivier Giroud’s gentle nudge and Mbappe’s finish were all sublime, but it was Kante who started it all.
So much of what France do starts with Kante. His passing also initiated the build-up to the third goal against Argentina. His reading of the play and stepping into space, turned Uruguay back towards their own goal and set up the free-kick from which France opened the scoring in their quarterfinal.
And there’s nothing to the bloke. He’s even two centimetres shorter than Messi. But Kante is every bit as big a player. Thierry Henry, the former French international who has been part of Belgium’s coaching staff, says he poked Kante in the chest to see if he was real.
After France shut out Peru in their qualifying group Paul Pogba called his midfield mate ‘‘the man with 15 lungs’’. Team-mates have called Kante ‘the rat’, for the way he scurries about or an ‘annoying fly’. Peru, Uruguay and Argentina would doubtless call Kante the curse of South America.
France’s left-back Lucas Hernandez said: ‘‘N’Golo, you see him everywhere, all of a sudden he comes out of the ground. Frankly, it’s really amazing to play with a player like that, someone who wins you back I do not know how many balls in a match.’’
And so it turns out that ‘ol golden balls’ is not called Cristiano or Lionel. He is a small, humble bloke called N’Golo who still drives around in a battered second hand Mini and has the vision to see things before they even happen.