Teen spirit lifts France to Cup title
Led by Mbappe, 19, youthful squad beats Croatia, reigns as world’s best
MOSCOW — Taking turns sliding across the rain-soaked turf holding the World Cup trophy tight, teenager Kylian Mbappe and the rest of France’s players acted like the youthful bunch they are.
Nothing, not a Pussy Riot protest nor a postgame downpour that soaked Russian President Vladimir Putin, was going to stop the party.
It carried on long after a thrilling 4-2 victory over Croatia on Sunday. In the locker room with French President Emmanuel Macron striking poses with players, then with a champagne-spraying, water-splashing interruption of coach Didier Deschamps’ news conference.
“Sorry! They’re young and they’re happy,” said Deschamps, like a proud father.
Deschamps had good reason to indulge them. His team is mostly aged 25 or younger and can return almost intact to defend its title in 2022 in Qatar.
“Our children are going to be very proud,” forward Antoine Griezmann said. “The World Cup, it’s a lot.”
The 19-year-old Mbappe became only the second teen after Pele to score in a World Cup final.
Mbappe had just shown his electrifying speed in the 52nd minute when play was held up by four protesters who ran onto the field. Russian punk band Pussy Riot later took credit for the incident — watched from the VIP seats by Putin, whose government once jailed members of the activist
FRANCE
Event history — to win the $10,000 buy-in No-limit Texas Hold ‘em World Championship. Cynn’s win came two years after he finished
11th in a field of 6,737 in the 2016 Main Event.
“Neither was supposed to happen,” said Cynn, 33. “To make 11th is insane on its own. To win, that’s literally something you dream of but never expect to happen.
“When I got knocked out in 11th, I was really happy. Right now, I feel overwhelmed. It’s all the emotions times 10. … You can’t compare that to anything else in poker.”
On the final hand, Cynn had a king-jack and flopped three kings. Miles had a queen-eight and went all-in after making two pair on the turn.
Cynn thought for more than a minute before calling to effectively end the marathon session. Miles, 32, was eliminated in second place and earned a $5 million runner-up prize.
“I’ve never been part of anything like that,” said Miles, who was born in Ogden, Utah, and lives in Jacksonville, Florida. “It was incredible. This is still the dream come true, making it this far. It was truly magical. I feel blessed to be here.”
Cynn credits his win to a lucky streak for the ages during his 10-day run in the tournament.
“I literally might have had the six or seven luckiest days of poker in my life in that stretch,” he said. “The other days were also lucky. I definitely ran amazing against (Miles), especially, I would imagine, in heads-up. You’re not supposed to make that many hands.
“I had a couple bluffs, but I just got so fortunate so many times.”
The final table set the modern Main Event record for most hands with 442, eclipsing the 399 played in 2012. The final day lasted 11 hours, 20 minutes.
“It was kind of weird because you’re playing heads-up for the Main, but since we were playing for so long at some point it just feels like poker,” said Cynn, who started Day 10 in second place. “But then obviously when you’re put in pressure spots or when all the money goes in, you realize you know what it’s for. You can’t compare that to anything else in poker.”
A former Indiana University student who quit his job as a consultant more than five years ago, Cynn called his sister and nephew on Facetime after his victory. He then
hugged his mother and father in the stands, where family members and friends wore shirts emblazoned with “Welcome to Cynn City.”
Cynn said the prize money is “definitely going to be life-changing.”
“I’m not doing bad, but I’m not rich,” he said. “The money’s very significant. I do like to think I don’t need the money to be happy, but at the same time it’s going to make things a lot easier. Things I want to do in life for my family and my parents. To my parents, this is money they could never imagine.”
The soft-spoken Cynn also said he might use some of the money to party with his friends, then plans to travel throughout Europe, South America and Southeast Asia.
“I didn’t have a plan after that,” he said. “Now I can feel free to not have a plan and be OK.”
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.