New Delhi: Two days after the 2022 FIFA World Cup culminates with the final between Argentina and France at Lusail Stadium in Doha, Kylian Mbappe will ring in his 24th birthday. By the time he does so, he will be hoping to have won two World Cups, the Golden Boot, and in the process, take his overall goal tally at the World Cup into double figures (he has nine goals across the 2018 and 2022 editions).
You only need to run your eye over the Argentinian camp and that little magician by the name of Lionel Messi to appreciate the incredulity of Mbappe’s ambitions. Here’s Messi, who has ruled the game for a decade-and-a-half, won every trophy there’s to be won at club level and every accolade there’s to claim in an individual capacity, still aiming to conquer his childhood dream of winning the World Cup in his fifth attempt of trying. Despite all his mesmerising mastery, Messi will be the first to tell you that not winning a World Cup so far has been held staunchly against him by his critics.
And then there’s Mbappe, trying to create history by being part of a France squad that is aiming to win back-to-back World Cups. That is Pele territory, his redoubtable Brazil team of 1962 being the last to win successive editions of the 92-year-old competition.
If Mbappe and his French colleagues manage to do so, the parallels with Pele, currently recovering from ailing health at a hospital in Sao Paulo, will only grow. In an international career that took shape in 2017, Mbappe has already matched or surpassed a few of Pele’s long-standing World Cup feats.
When he scored a brace against Argentina in Russia four years ago, he became the first teenager since the Brazilian legend to score twice in a World Cup game. He then scored in the final against Croatia too, becoming the second teen after Pele to find the net in the summit clash.
By scoring twice against Poland in the Round of 16 game in Qatar this year, he took his goal tally at the World Cup to nine, surpassing the Brazilian once again for most World Cup goals before the age of 24. It is plausible that there are more records under threat, the enormity of these accomplishments perhaps leaving you as out of breath as a defender trying to catch up with the star forward.
Messi might look at his club team mate at Paris Saint-Germain with a hint of wistfulness. For all his flair on the football pitch, international success has been hard to come by for the 35-year-old Argentine after all. Until winning the Copa America in 2021, Messi had reached four finals with the senior team and yet had no silverware to show for his efforts. By reaching the World Cup final again, Messi has given himself one last shot at the elusive crown.
While everything for Messi is seemingly riding on his last dance, Mbappe’s international career is akin to a kid in a candy store who is spoiled for options. At the cusp of 24, he seemingly has the world at his feet, both at club and international level. How many other players would Real Madrid, the behemoth of European clubs, seek with the zeal that they have sought Mbappe over the past couple of years?
All the fame and dizzying success can easily get to a youngster’s head, but not in Mbappe’s case. Right from the time he was training at his local club, AS Bondy, as a six-year-old in the suburbs of Paris, he has been gearing up for these big moments. That is why, according to The Guardian, he learned how to sing La Marseillaise (France’s national anthem) at that age. When asked about it, Mbappe is supposed to have said: “One day, I’ll play in the World Cup for France”.
Mbappe, of course, is doing more than just playing in the World Cup for France. Like a young Pele did for Brazil all those years ago, he is carrying the expectations of his countrymen on his wiry shoulders.
Coming into the World Cup, France were seemingly up against it. They were battling the burden of recent history, with no defending champion having gone beyond the group stage since 2010. To compound matters, a heap of injuries to key players before the tournament severely disrupted their plans. While N’Golo Kante and Paul Pogba, chief architects of their 2018 triumph, were ruled out well before the start of the tournament, Karim Benzema became unavailable owing to injury on the eve of the first game.
The setbacks haven’t eased. They had to make do without centre-back Dayot Upamecano and midfielder Adrien Rabiot for the semi-final against Morocco, for instance. Through it all, they have looked towards Mbappe for a bit of magic. And the PSG forward has seldom disappointed.
Be it his brace against Poland or the mazy run through a mass of Moroccan players for France’s second goal against Morocco in the semi-final, he has that enviable quality that separates all great players from mere mortals: the ability to bring his A game to the fore in clutch moments.
In the opposition ranks on Sunday is Messi, carrying that same ability in abundance. In a game of fine margins riding so heavily on one or two moments of brilliance, it may be left to Messi or Mbappe to make the difference. While Messi will have no second chances from hereon, Mbappe has the luxury of knowing that he will be the fray for the next two World Cups at the very least. Not that Mbappe will settle for anything less than the trophy on Sunday night.
