Mbappe and France awful and then magnifique as World Cup gauntlet thrown down at last | OneFootball

It took a while for one of the World Cup’s big beasts to make a serious impression on this tournament.

And it took a while for anything to happen for France here, but in the end Kylian Mbappe eventually rumbled up to something approaching top speed to highlight Les Bleus’ standout World Cup credentials against a Senegal team for whom this 3-1 defeat absolutely need not be terminal.

There was no point even trying to separate France’s fortunes from that of their star man here. For the first 55 minutes they were strikingly careless and sloppy. And then after that they were essentially unplayable.

France were rotten in the first half. Alan Shearer declared late in the first half that Senegal had been the better team. He did it in the manner of a man issuing a take so hot it would legitimately require a hydration break, rather than merely stating a clear and undeniable fact.

Senegal did everything right in the first half, apart from take their chances. Most conspicuously Ismaila Sarr in the very final moments of it when he allowed a cross to come across him to be scuffed over the bar right-footed, when a sweeping left-foot effort felt certain to produce a goal.

But it was only the last and clearest of the true champions of Africa’s chances. They had France’s number throughout a first half in which Les Bleus’ attack was conspicuously less than the sum of its parts. And Mbappe was particularly culpable in his central role, touching the ball just 14 times yet contriving to lose it seven.

With Jules Kounde and Theo Fernandez operating as auxiliary forwards rather than any kind of usefully functioning full-backs, France’s shape was a mess. They had what amounted at times to a back two against a team primed to hit them on the counter-attack. It asked a vast amount of Dayot Upamecano and William Saliba; class as they undoubtedly are, it was more by luck than judgement that they came through it unscathed.

Upamecano was finally left compellingly over-exposed midway through the half when Nicolas Jackson ran clear to strike the foot of the post before the ball bounced off Mike Maignan’s leg and behind for a corner when it could very easily have trundled the other side of the post.

But about 10 minutes into the second half, the entire game changed. At that point, we seriously wondered whether Didier Deschamps – a man not opposed to bold decisions at a World Cup – should give Mbappe the hook.

Instead it became a classic That’s Why You Leave These Players On. The switch can flick at any moment, and flick it did.

Suddenly the Bayern Munich version of Michael Olise appeared alongside Mbappe at his unplayable best. Senegal, so strikingly comfortable at the back for so long, were suddenly pulled this way and that.

Edouard Mendy made two big one-on-one saves and the sense of a moment arriving was irresistible.

We found ourselves thinking ‘Senegal need to get to the hydration break here’ and then punched ourselves in the face while also doing a bit of sick in our mouth.

They didn’t make it. They did get three minutes closer than they should have done thanks to a genuinely preposterous decision not to give France a penalty kick for a wild Sadio Mane lunge on, yes, Mbappe.

The referee having initially given a corner was duly sent to the monitor for what felt like a routine overturn. He did overturn his decision, deciding instead that Mbappe had initiated the contact so France wouldn’t even get the corner.

A shocker, obviously. But one that has us wondering. We’ve felt for a while now that actually a good number of penalties should in fact not be given because the striker has indeed sought out and initiated the contact.

But it absolutely did not apply here. And it so massively didn’t apply that it seemed off for the ref to reach for it as his reasoning. Which leaves us to make five from two plus two and conclude that Strikers Initiating Contact is something that has been discussed at some length in a referees’ briefing somewhere along the way.

Senegal’s baffling reprieve was extremely temporary, Mbappe scoring what we can only describe as a wonderfully five-a-side goal with a deft finish from Olise’s absurd pass.

And there was still time for France to highlight the significant bench strength behind their embarrassment of starting riches in attack, Bradley Barcola stepping off the bench and almost instantly dinking an impudent second goal over Mendy.

When Ibrahim Mbaye had the nerve to score a spectacular solo consolation for Senegal in injury time, Mbappe ensured the headlines would be unequivocally his by lashing home his second and France’s third from absurd range.

It was a goal that takes him clear of Olivier Giroud at the top of France’s all-time list, above Just Fontaine as France’s leading World Cup goalscorer, and within two of Miroslav Klose’s all-comers World Cup tally of 16.

It didn’t look like happening for much of the game, but by the end this was a serious marker laid down by France after an opening week where the headline teams and stars had yet to impress.

Where Spain and Brazil failed, France have succeeded. They are now, if they weren’t already, the team to beat.