Kylian Mbappé celebrates scoring his team's first goal on Tuesday against Senegal in their World Cup opener.Dylan Martinez/Reuters
Five days in, this World Cup has yet to get anywhere near exit velocity. They got it in the air, which is great. Nobody’s trying to shoot it down, which is even better. But it’s been ascending very slowly.
If you’re FIFA, this is a vindicating demonstration of parity. If Cape Verde can tie Spain, then maybe everyone should get their chance. Ten, 12 years from now, the World Cup will become a buy-in tournament with a kickoff featuring Monaco vs. The SpaceX All-Star XI.
At ground level, parity looks a lot like drudgery. Turns out, when you disincentivize the contenders from going full speed from the start, they take you up on the offer. It’s not like any of them have been punished for their lack of ambition. Just mildly embarrassed. If they win later, everyone will forget that part happened.
In the midst of this depressing marketplace rationality, Kylian Mbappé arrived on Tuesday. The French star is the first of the they-named-a-shoe-after-me class to act like that perch is a responsibility, not just a marketing hook.
For long stretches against Senegal – who are no Curaçao or Qatar – France appeared to be going the same way Spain or Brazil have gone so far: nowhere.
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Until their most recent iteration, French soccer teams were most famous for fighting themselves harder than they fought others. They have now apparently reached the sort of zen where the answer to a badly missed pass is c’est pas grave.
Mbappé, the leader of France’s footballing supergroup, was most to blame. A couple of times in the early going, he lead-footed would-be assists out of bounds. The thing that struck you was his reaction – big smile, thumbs up to the passer, zero regret.
That’s when you knew was going to be another of these 2026-style World Cup games. Maybe 0-0. If everyone felt really ambitious, 1-1.
But after 60 minutes, Mbappé remembered that his Nike deal is running out, and that his next one will be more of an IPO than a contract.
France's head coach Didier Deschamps congratulates Mbappé after his first goal on Tuesday against Sengal.FRANCK FIFE/AFP/Getty Images
He was knocked over galloping into the Senegalese box – not an obvious penalty, but a penalty nonetheless. After the VAR got everyone wondering what the word “contact” actually means, no penalty was awarded.
No problem. Mbappé scored five minutes later, and the best sort of goal – one that looks easy, but is incredibly hard.
France went up 2-0. Senegal pulled back a score in injury time. Another one of these?
No problem. Mbappé spilled down the field – at his best, he looks like a man being carried along by a tide, rather than one pumping his legs – and got a second. That one was even better than the first.
With apologies to all the others who’ve scored so far, this is how a real star shows up. He does what he likes, when he feels like it.
Kylian Mbappé surpasses Messi, Pele, in career World Cup goals as France downs Senegal
In the subsequent game, Norway vs. Iraq, another of those plays-like-it’s-a-video-game sorts, Erling Haaland, picked up the challenge. Two goals, both of which he made look easy, and an injury-time assist for good measure. Not an Mbappé-level showing, but not bad. A hundred-and-twenty hours or so after kickoff, the World Cup has begun.
Mbappé accomplished a couple of things on Tuesday. He took France from among the favourites to slightly above them all. He jumped into third place all-time in World Cup goals scored (14). And he let FIFA off the hook.
The usual pattern of these things is that once the sport begins, all extra-sport complaints melt away. People are too mesmerized by competition to remember they’re being ripped off. Not this time.
Maybe it’s the hangover from the ticket prices laid over the sight of empty seats at some of the games. Maybe it’s the fact that everyone was prepped to turn hydration breaks into ad breaks, but no one said anything about it beforehand.
France's game on Tuesday served as a reminder of what the expanded World Cup is about, Cathal Kelly writes. It's to sell the game's stars and let fans see more of them on its biggest stage.CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP/Getty Images
For the first time, the usual cynicism on top extended to the field of play. Now the teams were free to act like mini-FIFAs – feeling no need to give up anything for the sake of the show.
Fortunately for the organizers, the World Cup is no longer about countries, or regions, or borders at all. It’s about stars. Mbappé is only technically French. Like every huge football personality, he is so globally ubiquitous that he belongs to the world. Once their country is out, few would want to be seen putting on a France jersey for France’s sake. But many of the same people will swap for an Mbappé jersey. He’s their real favourite.
That’s the market advantage FIFA has spotted. They are selling group belonging, but not the groups everyone thinks.
Expanding the tournament isn’t meant to make it harder for the Brazils or Englands. It’s meant to give you more of a chance to watch the players you know on those teams. Whether that’s them playing in a semi-final classic or beating up on some tiny, island nation is beside the point.
Until Tuesday, the stars were letting corporate’s plan down. Now that Mbappé has clocked in, everyone else will feel the pressure he is applying.
For the best players, the calculus hasn’t changed. They are here to feather their legend. They may be famous in whatever league they play in, but this is where you become an all-timer. For a moment, some of them seemed to forget that. Mbappé just reminded them. It’s only coincidental that he’s doing what FIFA hoped.
The plan puts one in mind of Rahm Emanuel. As mayor of Chicago, he said ‘no’ to FIFA staging games in his city.
“I didn’t go to business school, but I know a bad deal when I see one,” Emanuel explained later.
At the time, he was cheered for his probity. Early Tuesday morning, it still looked like the smart political play.
After Mbappé’s performance, I wonder how willing the average, sports-loving Chicagoan would be to be turned upside down and shaken by FIFA if it meant they could play host to France in town next week. You can have sports whenever, but you only get a few chances to host a legend.