Throughout the World Cup, it has been apparent how many sides have come to the finals with a true powerhouse striker. Some haven’t intended to start that way – Germany with Timo Werner, France with Antoine Griezmann – but sooner or later, Gomez or Giroud have gotten the call.Others are less subtle. Mario Mandzukic bulldozes from the front for Croatia, England have Harry Kane to aim for and the list goes on: Falcao, Dzyuba, Cavani, Costa, Cornelius, Lewandowski, Mitrovic, Lukaku. Some have more technique than others, some have enjoyed more success in the final third, but the vast majority of sides have included at least one of these powerful, aerially capable front men in their armoury.
And yet are any absolute stand-outs for best players at the finals? Or even most exciting, the players who fans love to talk about? Not so much, beyond perhaps the Kane-Lukaku Golden Boot battle. Instead, the excitement has come from the fleet-footed, tricky and explosive in-from-out forwards: Hirving Lozano, Ante Rebic (with a brutish physique himself, admittedly), Juan Quintero…and now Mbappe.
Mbappe has been looking up to Cristiano Ronaldo through his boyhood years. Photos of young Kylian Mbappe in his bedroom in the Parisian suburb of Bondy plastered with dozens of Cristiano Ronaldo’s pictures have surfaced online. The photos evidenced Mbappe’s huge obsession with Real Madrid, , and the Portuguese star in particular shows that impossible is nothing. There are also photos of the French star with his hero, as well as of him posing with his AS Monaco jersey shortly after signing for the French side in 2013. In an interview with in 2017, Mbappe spoke candidly how influential Ronaldo was in his career as a youngster but it soon ‘ended
Kylian Mbappe, aged 13, in his bedroom – a shrine to his hero Ronaldo. Now, just 6yrs later, HE’S the new king of world football. The hero-worshipper becomes the hero. Amazing. pic.twitter.com/eRfzjBnMBc
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) July 1, 2018
There are also photos of the French star with his hero, as well as of him posing with his AS Monaco jersey shortly after signing for the French side in 2013. In an interview with in 2017, Mbappe spoke candidly how influential Ronaldo was in his career as a youngster and five years later, Mbappe is close to achieving his dream of becoming one of, if not the, most phenomenal footballer in the world.
On Saturday June, 30, the PSG ace put in a masterclass performance to dump Lionel Messi’s Argentina from the 2018 World Cup in the round of 16. Mbappe netted a brace during the tie as France hammered the South American nation 4-3 to seal a spot in the quarter-finals. It’s that juxtaposition to the ‘main men’ of the front line which makes Mbappe and Co. such a pleasing watch, their incredible now-it’s-happening momentum which can take a game in a heartbeat from gently bubbling to frothy, roiling, turbulent drama. Mbappe didn’t just help France beat Argentina, he took the stage from the man who has defined excitement from a fast, fluid forward for a decade: Lionel Messi.
We want entertainment, and these wide forwards bring it in so many more ways, more relatable, watchable, long-lasting ways than their predatory penalty box team-mates. It’s not about being better than them—Mbappe doesn’t score his second without Giroud’s vision, reaction and pass, for starters—but about being more thrilling. About standing out. About being the one who, in the pre-game conversations between colleagues, friends or pundits, people want to talk about and use as evidence for an upcoming goal-fest.
On a wider footballing spectrum, the success over the last decade of the wide forward, the inside forward, has led to a shift: instead of wingers developing to become offensive-minded full-backs, the most dangerous are shifted centrally. Griezmann is a centre-forward, but was Real Sociedad’s left winger. Eden Hazard has done the same, Mohamed Salah from the right, Dries Mertens too. Mbappe, given time, will follow, as plenty of others have done—while many more have regressed or never been given the chance. Some, sadly, remain wingers, forever frustrating and wasting crosses.
But Mbappe is a forward in true form, exploiting spaces centrally and in the channels with equal regard, and he brings joy and energy to the game and excitement and expectation to the stands. While a player like him is on the field, there always seems to be one more chance in the game. And at the World Cup, at this World Cup, we seem to be lapping up the late drama with every passing game.