FORGET ALI, IT’S THE MBAPPE SHUFFLE!
WHEN the World Cup caravan moves on, the memory fades and winter begins to set in, it will be the Mbappe shuffle which will remain in the mind’s eye. From Reykjavik to Rio de Janeiro, that is the one they will be trying to recreate. The wonder of it, like every new trick this extraordinary sport offers up, is that no one had tried it before, though the level of difficulty has something to do with that. The game was just under an hour old when Kylian Mbappe, on the left hand side of Belgium’s box, rolled the ball back under his right studs, danced above it to propel it on, at a right angle, under the studs of his left. It was as pure a pass as you will find, directly into the path of Olivier Giroud, who could not find a finish. Rio Ferdinand momentarily struggled for words in the BBC studio. ‘It shouldn’t be allowed to happen on a football field,’ he said. It was the defining moment in the game’s absorbing struggle for supremacy between two men who both wore No 10, both wore white boots and — in a parallel universe far from this
one — were both being discussed as inheritors of the Real Madrid shirt that Cristiano Ronaldo has left behind. That particular pantomime could wait because in the here and now there was something far purer: Mbappe and Eden Hazard, two players of quite sublime talent, bending every sinew to take their nation to football’s ultimate stage. It only enhanced the intrigue that they stared each other in the face. Mbappe was detailed a role on the French right and Hazard the Belgian left. Hazard was within Mbappe’s range as he set off one of half a dozen first-half runs deep into French territory. The Frenchman held up his arms and let him pass through, as if to say that attempting to halt him was
well beyond his capacity. That went for most of those who wore blue because in Belgium’s fleeting early period of hope Hazard emerged as the game’s strongest player. His first half was encapsulated by a moment, just beyond the half hour, when he idled with the ball just inside from the flank, looking for a corridor of opportunity. Nothing materialised, so he retreated back to the touchline and eased beyond the approaching Paul Pogba, whose attentions were just enough to force player and ball into touch. The two No 10s then seemed to be involved in some kind of sparring contest, matching each other blow-for-blow as they sought the breakthrough. Hazard twice cut inside and shot — first, narrowly wide, then on target only for Jan Vertonghen to head the rebound over. Mbappe’s direction of travel was frequently also diagonal, though Belgium’s ascendancy and composure in the first half owed much to the unfathomable decision to deploy him in that wide position. It was a searing run against Argentina in Kazan 11 days ago which telegraphed his talent to the world. You worried for the 32-year-old Vincent Kompany against speed like that. The game was 12 minutes old when Kazan was reprised. prised. Pogba delivered through the central channel, just as he had on that devastating afternoon, and Mbappe accelerated away, arms pumping like a sprinter’s. Kompany staggered after him. Thibaut Courtois raced out to avert the danger. The 19-year-old did not let his designation limit him, though. There was plenty of the impudence of youth. A deft cushioned volley cross from the right which Giroud also managed to miss. And then that soft shoe shuffle. When Samuel Umtiti leaped above Marouane Fellaini to power France ahead in such muscular fashion, the belief seemed to die in Belgium. There is a fearful balance to this French side, with its disciplined and effective back four, the barrier of N’Golo Kante allowing Pogba to move ahead — and Mbappe’s blistering pace. Against all of that Hazard could not find a way to press himself on the second half as he had the first. And so Mbappe takes the spoils. ‘For me, he’s really a mixture of Thierry Henry and Brazilian Ronaldo,’ Hazard said of him this week. ‘I hope we will not meet too much in the future because the boy is strong.’ But it is not just strength, of course. There is an ingenuity which takes the breath away, too. Few had anticipated anything quite like this.