Like Messi, Mbappe misses from the spot, but still sinks Morocco

Sometimes, time is a player’s biggest enemy. Too much time, he broods, he doubts and misses. Hard-pressed for time, the instincts take over and the muscle memory kicks in.

The tantrums of time don’t spare the most luminescent footballers in the world. In a day’s time, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe both failed to beat the goalkeeper from 12 yards.

Yet, with guilt gnawing like mites, time running out, legs tiring, they produced goals from more improbable directions in open play.

Mbappe’s goal that soothed the French nerves and broke Morocco’s belief was a stunning blend of timing and precision, ruthlessness and opportunism. France would win 2-0 to be in the semi-final.

For his goal, Mbappe had just two seconds to decide. His back was facing the goal, but he manufactured a pocket of space for him to take a sharp U-turn, took a velcro-touch to take the ball away from the defenders, just lifted his right leg and threaded the ball through the narrow space between Issa Diop and Noussair Mazraoui.

The ball still had a lot to traverse before it beat Yassine Bounou, the guardian of Morocco’s goalpost. The ball almost brushed Diop’s shirt, the bend just sufficed; it kept swinging away, before it swerved back into the goal.

Half a yard less whip, Diop’s shoulder should have rescued Morocco; a yard less swing in the final third of its journey, it would have clunked the upright. Mbappe could have a hidden protractor inside his boot, or in his brain.

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But the instrument went AWOL momentarily when he took the penalty in the 22nd minute. He had too much time to think, and overthink. After Mazraoui hacked him down inside the box, the referee immediately pointed to the spot.

Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou stops a penalty kick against Mbappe during the World Cup quarterfinal. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)

Ousmane Dembele rolled the ball towards Mbappe. He kissed the ball, placed the ball on the spot and hurried to his run-up. The referee was still consulting with his VAR friends. Mbappe fretted, he preened and walked towards teammate Kone and whispered something in his ears. If VAR has robbed theatre out of goal celebration, it has heightened the drama in dead-ball situations.

It was the wait that was killing him. The referee confirmed it was a penalty. And Mbappe was ready to run off the block. Stop, the referee shrieked again. A couple of Moroccan men were infringing the line.

Stop, he screamed again, he felt the ball had moved a bit. Three minutes and eleven seconds had lapsed from awarding the penalty to confirming it and then flicking the green light to taking it. Mbappe’s patience had worn off. He rushed towards the ball, then stopped and stuttered.

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The end product was a weak stab, the ankle withering at the exact point of contact, and the ball stuttering towards Bounou, who second-guessed the direction of  Mbappe’s shot. He kicked the turf in angst.

As with Messi, his conversion rate is not prolific by their stratospheric gold standards in other metrics ( a conversion rate of 81 percent for club and country; Messi’s is 78). This was only his second miss for his country in fifteen attempts. But the most prolific goal-scorers in the world, Messi and Mbappe tied on eight goals for the golden boot, spilling as routine a piece of action is baffling.

Maybe the geniuses have one option too many that they end up cluttering their sense of clarity. Maybe, they get conscious of the attention on them or the sheer fear that you could miss as simple a thing as a penalty.

Perhaps, it’s stuttery run-up style, popularised by none other than Pele, that’s the villain, where he paused to detect the goalkeeper’s imminent movement and slot the ball in the opposite direction rather than run straight and trust the impulses.

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Three minutes and eleven seconds are too much time to complicate your mind. In two seconds, a goal-scorer doesn’t have time to breathe, let alone breath.

Morocco, after a regimented first-half defensive show, were just raising the offensive gear when Mbappe struck the opening goal. (AP Photo)

After he skewed his shot and saw it saved, he went straight to the referee, perhaps complaining about the delay before the kick. But that’s the devil he would have to bear with most of his career. The VAR and the wait. He has dwelled on missed penalties before. “It’s acceptable if the goalkeeper makes a wonderful save, but not because of a poor shot. It hurts, especially if you have lost the game,” he had once said.

Mbappe wouldn’t take the spilt penalty to his bed because he atoned with a spectacular strike and an assist. The goal was cathartic. He flexed his muscle like a WWE wrestler, kept shouting “it is me, it is me…” and revelled all through the time the VAR dissected the replays for a foul and stopped only when the game was restarted.

Like when great players score great goals, the mood of the game altered imperceptibly. Morocco, after a regimented first-half defensive show, were just raising the offensive gear when Mbappe struck. A sense of fatalism clutched them. Ousmane Dembele’s strike, six minutes later from Mbappe’s assist, punctured all their hopes.

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Post match, he was asked about the missed penalty. He just smiled. The smile had all the answers. It didn’t have the villain’s name. It could be the seconds ticking on the referee’s watch.