Kylian Mbappe is fine. That’s what he says, anyway, and France has to hope he’s right.
The French superstar asked to be subbed out in the 75th minute of Sunday’s 2-0 quarterfinal win over Morocco at Gillette Stadium. TV cameras caught him with his right foot wrapped in ice on the bench, and for a moment, you could hear the collective panic from French fans everywhere. Mbappe is the kind of player whose absence would shift the entire World Cup.
But after the match, he waved off the concern.
“I’m fine! I took a hit to the ankle, but everything’s okay,” Mbappe said via The Touchline.
That’s a relief. Because as talented as France is top to bottom — and they are stacked — Mbappe is the one who makes them dangerous in a way no other team can match. He’s arguably the best player on the planet right now, and he’s got the numbers to back it up.
His 60th-minute goal broke a scoreless deadlock against Morocco. Six minutes later Ousmane Dembélé added an insurance goal, and France rolled into the semifinals without dropping a game so far. They went undefeated through group play, then sent home Sweden and Paraguay in the knockout rounds. Morocco was just the latest team that couldn’t find an answer.
That goal was Mbappe’s 20th in World Cup play. That puts him one behind Lionel Messi’s all-time record of 21. At 27 years old, he’s got a real shot at owning that number outright by the time this tournament is over.
France now waits to see who they’ll face in the semis. The other quarterfinal between Belgium and Spain will decide their next opponent. But the bigger question might be whether Mbappe’s ankle stays healthy enough for him to keep doing what he does.
He says he’s fine. France’s title hopes depend on it.
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