Julia Zonca
SENT TO AL WAKRAH
The reigning world champions win with Serie A and then leave Mbappé in the window. The first big name that he doesn’t let down on his debut in this World Cup with balance problems. France-Australia begins as Argentina-Saudi Arabia, with a result that can become incredible and ends up as England-Iran, in goals: 4-1, round, full and reassuring especially because it comes after a series of injuries that smack of bad omens.
Les Bleus go under, Goodwin scores for Australia and the name seems to underline the joke, still the feeling that fate wants to play around. Soon after another malaise: Lucas Hernandez gets hurt (it remains to be understood how much) and is replaced by his brother Theo, the AC Milan fan. First piece of our championship ready to take the surprise scene. First Rabiot and then Giroud, who will also score the last goal of the evening and they are not the two names that the French expected to applaud in Qatar. Rabiot in 2018 preferred to go home rather than remain attached to the group as a reserve, a contemptuous choice, blessed by the prosecutor mother, who transformed him into the protagonist of a French comedy. One of those immature, spoiled eternals who are comfortable on the sofa at home. He returned to the group despite the low esteem he had accumulated and he did so by moving from Juve who imagined parting ways with him. In fact, Rabiot doesn’t leave the sofas he’s comfortable on, but he doesn’t always lie on them. He equalized and Giroud pulled away, eventually reaching goal number 51, as many as his majesty Henry, the best scorer in the history of the national team. Giroud, another Milan supporter, takes his satisfaction at 36 years and 53 days old, an age that allows him to touch another guru. He displaces Zidane from the title of oldest ever scorer for France and surpasses the 34 years and 53 days old Zizou had in 2006 against Italy. Him very violent pangs even at the idea of what happened in that game. But, it was said, Serie A: always a local product. France of a thousand talents relies on the less popular ones and could not do otherwise.
Deschamps had to park 400 million assets from Pogba to Benzema and changed formations, combinations and feelings until this debut. In theory there shouldn’t have been any difficulties, in practice everything had become a trap. Every minute perceived with some anxiety. The one that was seen in the first minutes. Ghosts, the French are poised between the third wonder and the third catastrophe and every oscillation makes them irritable. They have a tendency to argue with each other when they are like this and this closeness has also given sparks. But then it happens that mild-mannered Australia shows up for what it is and lasts just for the moment it takes to shock. Almost useful. It happens that Rabiot not only shows off an evening of great vein and extraordinary participation but is even the first to crush Mbappé after his goal. Not obvious.
At 23, Mbappé scores his fifth goal at the World Cup and confirms what he’s always been: predestined. He’s here for the change of guard and it’s also unpleasant not to think that it has already happened because he’s the one who won four years ago, however we still talk about the last tango of Messi and Ronaldo and the succession is never defined. He put the umpteenth notch into it, even with an ambiguous maramao as exultation. He is the highest paid, the most watched, not the most followed on social media and that record interests him little. He already has one more World Cup than the two greats he should still be heir to. One yesterday he lost the game, the other the team. —
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