These are challenging times for Emmanuel Macron. Kim Jong-Un has supplanted him as Donald Trump’s Best Friend Forever and he’s angered the Italians with clumsy comments about their handling of the migrant crisis. Thank goodness, then, that Kylian Mbappé has recovered from an ankle injury and is fit for France’s World Cup opener today against Australia.
Every president and prime minister would love their boys to win the World Cup but for Macron a victory inspired by Mbappé would be particularly timely. What political capital! Endless photo opportunities and references about the football team mirroring the new diverse, dynamic and blossoming France.
Mbappé is, for Macron, the figurehead of this French squad. The 19-year-old embodies the values that Macron is promoting to the young kids in the inner-cities of Paris, Marseille and Toulouse. Yes, talent matters, but not as much as diligence and determination. In February Mbappé was invited to the Élysée Palace to discuss with Macron and George Weah, the ex-footballer-turned-president of Liberia, how best to develop football in Africa.
Mbappé inherited his formidable work ethic from his Cameroonian dad and his Algerian mother.
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