Mbappé shines, accredits himself to the best of the Cup and puts France on the way to tri

“We need a ‘scooter’ to catch him,” said Polish striker Arkadiusz Milik when asked how to stop Mbappé in the World Cup last-16 clash with France.

Unfortunately for him, of course, that wasn’t possible.

It’s even worse if the number 10 is on an inspired day, one of those when only a motor can stop him.

The star was like this this Sunday (4), at the Al Thumama stadium, in Doha, where he overthrew Poland with two goals and an assist, in a 3-1 victory.

The star is the top scorer in the tournament in Qatar, with five goals.

More than the numbers, the moves he has been making, the way he presents himself to the games and his technical leadership on the field reflect a great maturity of the one who, in 2018, was already elected the best young player of the World Cup in Russia.

While he now accredits himself to the award for the best player in this World Cup, he also keeps the French in the pursuit of the third championship and to equal a mark that only Italy (1934 and 1938) and Brazil (1958 and 1962) achieved, with two consecutive titles.

In the quarterfinals, the current champions will face the winner of the duel between England and Senegal, also scheduled for this Sunday.

Whatever the opponent, whoever wants to have a chance of advancing to the semifinals will have to reduce Mbappé’s spaces. Poland failed.

Although he had a good game, especially in comparison with the apathetic posture of his performance against Argentina, in the last round of the group stage, the Poles had difficulties in marking the French attackers.

Even before the number 10 started his private show, France managed to open the scoring with Giroud, in the 44th minute of the first half, when he was precisely served by Mbappé.

By opening the scoring, Giroud isolated himself as his country’s top scorer. The striker has scored 52 goals for the Blues, one more than Thierry Henry, with whom he shared the top spot until then.

If it weren’t for Mbappé, he could certainly be named as the protagonist of this team, especially for having overcome the suspicions surrounding his ability to replace Karim Benzema, who was injured before the start of the Cup.

Until the number 9 goal, the first stage had been balanced. So much so that the first good chance of the game went to Lewandowski. He finished from afar, at 20 minutes, and the ball left the goal.

Piotr Zieliński also demanded good intervention from Lloris before the score was opened, but the French goal rewarded the team that insisted more.

The partial advantage gave France morale to come back from the break with more impetus. It almost reached the second goal after 11 minutes, when Giroud scored with a bicycle kick. The bid was disallowed because the Venezuelan referee Jesus Valenzuela saw a foul by Varane on Matty Cash in the dispute for the ball.

After a deadly counterattack, however, it was hopeless. Griezmann was helping the defense, kicked the ball to the attack and, after a good plot between Giroud, Dembélé and Mbappé, the number 10 invaded the area and finished with a plate to expand: 2 to 0.

Already stunned, the Polish defense became even more spaced out, allowing the number 10 to move almost free of marking.

At 45 minutes, he received it inside the area, cleared the scoring and hit a beautiful shot. It was his second goal of the match, his fifth at the World Cup.

In the last bid of the game, Lewandowski only managed to reduce the damage, with a penalty. In a first attempt, Lloris defended, but the referee ordered him to return, as the goalkeeper went ahead. In the second, he scored his second goal in the Cup – at the age of 34, this was probably his final act in World Cups.

With the victory, the Blues also maintained a long taboo against the Poles. For forty years now, the current world champions have not lost to their opponents.

The last time was in a friendly, in 1982, by 4 to 0. That same year, Poland also won what until this Sunday was the only duel between them in World Cups, by 3 to 2, in Mexico.