The battle that could decide England and France’s quarter-final

Doha: Olivier Giroud is now France’s all-time leading goalscorer, with his three goals so far at the World Cup in Qatar taking him to 52 for his country, and past the previous record held for 15 years by Thierry Henry.

It’s a nice little slice of history for a striker who has long been underappreciated, and was famously maligned by the fans of his former club, Arsenal, who couldn’t always see the impact he was having on games if he wasn’t scoring.

But deep down, he knows he needs to savour every single moment he holds it because it won’t be for long.

Certainly not another 15 years. He’ll be lucky if it’s 15 months.

Kylian Mbappe is coming. For him, for them, for everything in football.

“He is the best striker I have played with,” Giroud said.

Kylian Mbappe and Olivier Giroud.Credit:Getty

“I know my records will be broken by him. He is amazing, which is scary because he can still improve. We have still not seen the best of Kylian. I hope it is going to come soon.”

It’s a frightening thought that Mbappe, 23, might not even be close to his ceiling as a footballer. His rise comes as the long battle for individual supremacy between veterans Lionel Messi, 35, and Cristiano Ronaldo, 37 — with the former linked to a move to David Beckham’s MLS club Inter Miami after the World Cup, and the latter to a $313 million contract with Saudi Arabian team Al-Nassr — winds down. The throne is about to be vacated, and it feels like a new duopoly is about to begin between Mbappe and Erling Haaland, Manchester City’s Norwegian cyborg up front.

But only one of them is at the World Cup, and in an otherwise pretty even match-up on paper between France and England in Sunday’s (6am AEDT) quarter-final at the Al Bayt Stadium, he looms as the difference-maker. Les Bleus aren’t a one-man team, of course, but the reality is one man can win them this match.

“It’s not hidden, how quick that guy is. You give him one step, and he’s gone,” said Nathaniel Atkinson, the unfortunate Socceroos defender who was tasked with going head-to-head with the Paris Saint-Germain superstar in France’s opening match, which they won 4-1. Mbappe scored one and helped Giroud to another, but threatened to create so much havoc that the final scoreline was actually flattering for Australia.

If anyone’s going to stop Mbappe, Kyle Walker is the man.

“As a team, you can always come up with a plan. But sometimes if it’s one-v-one, he gets the better of you. You can get your confidence up with getting a few challenges in, but there’s a reason why he’s probably in the top three players in the world. There’s a reason why he’s earning $200 million a year, and I am where I am.”

With all due respect to Atkinson, a much better player will get the job on Mbappe this time: Manchester City’s Kyle Walker, who is perhaps one of the few men on the planet equipped with the capabilities of stopping him.

“That’s not to say he’ll keep him quiet for 90 minutes, as Mbappe is sensational and special,” former England right-back Gary Neville said on Sky Sports. “But we have a chance if Walker can match him in certain areas.”

Mbappe has plenty of weapons, but his primary attacking attribute is his explosive pace, which helps him to accelerate past defenders so quickly he can make them look like they’re running the opposite way … on a travelator.

Kylian Mbappé was too quick and too clever for Nathaniel Atkinson.Credit:AP

All he needs is to open up that little bit of space to deliver usually pinpoint crosses, which he did repeatedly against the Socceroos, or to take a ping at goal himself, as he did to staggering effect twice against Poland in the round of 16.

Matty Cash — who was born and raised in England but represented Poland, where his mother is from, at the World Cup — was given the runaround that night by Mbappe, who scored an audacious brace, bringing his World Cup goal tally to nine. That brought him level with Messi, who has been to this stage three more times, and he needs only seven more goals to match the all-time record held by Germany’s Miroslav Klose (13). With almost his whole career still ahead of him, you wouldn’t bet against it.

Cash came off the ground in utter awe.

“I spent the afternoon watching his clips, but I’m watching the videos while lying in bed. In real life, he’s burning my legs, that’s the difference,” Cash said.

Kyle Walker is one of the few defenders in the world who can match Mbappé for pace.Credit:Getty

“He’s a different level. I play in the Premier League week-in, week-out, and I play against top-class wingers, but he’s easily going to be the best player in the world. Speed, movement, look at his finishing. He’s got everything. I did everything I could, when it was one-v-one I thought I’d done OK against him. I got into a couple of races with him and I did all right. You look over your shoulder, and he’s there.”

But Cash reckons that’s the one area where Walker, 32, can match him better than anyone else.

“Kyle Walker is just as quick as Mbappe,” he said. “He’s England’s best right-back, and he’s got way more experience than me. I don’t need to tell him anything. So if anyone’s going to stop Mbappe, Kyle Walker is the man. He’s rapid as well.”

During the 2019-20 season in the Premier League, he recorded a top speed of 37.78 km/h — the quickest in the competition’s history. According to SpeedSDB, that’s only 0.16 km/h slower than Mbappe’s top speed of 37.90 km/h.

Kylian Mbappé and Kyle Walker have recent history at club level.Credit:Getty

Mbappe has completed 13 dribbles at the World Cup so far — the second-most of any player — but in his last 24 appearances for England, Walker has been dribbled past just three times.

Walker is so important to the cause that former England striker turned pundit Gary Lineker had even suggested Walker should have been rested from their round-of-16 win over Senegal. Equally, when English media clocked that Mbappe wasn’t at French training on Tuesday, they got excited — until they learned that he was given a pre-planned rest and recovery day, at which point their hearts collectively dropped.

Walker can at least look to the recent past to draw confidence: they have met three times in the UEFA Champions League over the last two years, and only in their most recent meeting, which City won 2-1 over PSG, did Mbappe manage to get on the scoresheet.

But that was then. This is now, and as the many banners across Doha spruiking the World Cup say: “Now is all.” Either Walker comes away from this match with a story he’ll proudly tell his grandkids — about how he nullified the threat of the world’s most dangerous player on the biggest stage of them all, and got England to within one win of their first final since 1966 — or he’ll be just another bit of roadkill on Mbappe’s inevitable ascent to legend status.

Watch every match of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League on Stan Sport. Returns for the Round of 16 in February 2023, with all matches streaming ad-free, live and on demand.

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