A Walker in the park for Mbappe?

Francersquos star forward Kylian Mbappe has become more threatening with every passing game And it wonrsquot be wrong to say that the England defencemdashright back Kyle Walker in particularmdashhas lost sleep in the last few days over his upcoming duel with the left flankloving lightning quick forward in todayrsquos quarterfinals at the Al Bayt StadiumAlso ReadKylian Mbappe scores in final match before leaving for World CupThere is a stark difference between both players Not only in agemdashMbappe is just 23 while Walker is 32 and physical attributesmdashbut also in the manner in which they play their football While Walker is assured in defence and prefers a comparatively slow buildup before picking up some good pace Mbappe is light on his feet and extremely fast in his buildups often not even caring if the ball is correctly placed or closer to his feet He knows that even if it gets away from him hersquoll eventually catch up France skipper and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris revealed that Mbappe is highly focused for this one ldquoKylian is preparing very well Hersquos trying to ignore all the talk about him because thatrsquos not something he needs He is very focused on his objective both individual and collective Hersquos happy and playing with a smile which is important for usrdquo said Lloris during the prematch press conference at the Main Media Centre on FridayWalker will do well not to shadow Mbappe because one quick turnandtakeoff by the Paris SaintGermain star could leave the Manchester City defender chasing a lost cause French coach Didier Deschamps admitted that pace will be crucial on the night ldquoPace is often one of the keys to a match because when you are quick the opponent has less time to be organised You can stop a lot of things but itrsquos very difficult to stop someone who is very quick especially in transitionsrdquo said Deschamps A headtohead between Walker and Mbappe involving their club sides doesnrsquot make sense because City and PSG are completely different in style and structuremdashmaking this fixture a totally different cup of tea And their only international meeting was way back in 2017 result France 32 England when Mbappe hadnrsquot yet fully exploded on the international stage and Walker was a lot youngerAlso ReadKylian Mbappersquos leavingWhen asked recently how he planned to stop Mbappe Walker insisted that he would ldquonot roll out the red carpetrdquo for him in the ldquodoordierdquo clash However England will do well to roll out at least another line of defence beyond Walker in fellow deep defenders John Stones Harry Maguire or Luke Shaw England coach Gareth who employs the 433 formation must pull another man behind whenever they lose possession as the Frenchmen through link man Antoine Griezmann will swiftly build a counter and send Mbappe on his wayFinally goalkeeper Jordan Pickford will also need to be at his best Mbappe comfortably beat one of the tournamentrsquos inform goalkeepers Polandrsquos Wojciech Szczesny not once but twicemdashfirst at his near post and then at the far endmdashin their Roundof16 clash The brace took Mbappersquos World Cup tally to nine goals 11 matches across two editions Over five editions Lionel Messi has 11 goals from 23 matches while Cristiano Ronaldo has eight from 20There is still no guarantee that England will be able to contain France because Mbappe the provider is as efficient as Mbappe the finisher Against France a sharp pass saw Mbappe help Olivier Giroud score his first goal of the tournament and enter the history books by becoming Francersquos alltime leading scorer with 52 goals eclipsing the legendary Thierry HenryDeschamps summed up his star player perfectly ldquoIrsquom sure England would have prepared well to face Kylian just as our previous opponents did In our last match v Poland Kylian didnrsquot show top form compared to the previous games but he was still decisive because Kylian is Kylian He has the ability to make a difference at any time in the gamerdquo9No of goals scored by Mbappe in 11 WC games