There was actually a hint of a wince from Kylian Mbappé as the Italian referee blew the final whistle and finally brought a halt to his football season. That disappointment faded almost immediately, of course, as the France players conducted something akin to a lap of appreciation, yet as he left the pitch the teenager could not resist one glance up at the big screen, replaying his chance in stoppage time. Even a comforting arm round the shoulder from Antoine Griezmann, with some advice whispered in his ear, did not seem to improve his mood.
About the only thing missing from Mbappé’s staggering breakthrough season has been a goal to celebrate at this level. By the end his opportunities to break that duck were being eked out at every galloping counterattack, even with France depleted in number and braced for a game of containment. Jack Butland had saved at the striker’s feet when he was clean through, and blocked again as the Monégasque glided beyond centre-halves who, in contrast, appeared to be running in treacle. He carried all the menace of a player attracting nine-figure bids from clubs from Primera to Premier Leagues.
His best chance was actually handed to him by English dithering on the edge of their own box. N’Golo Kanté darted in to prevent Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain collecting and the ball fell, obligingly, to the forward alone inside the penalty area. There was neat control with his first touch, a feint and turn inside to throw John Stones and Gary Cahill off the scent, and the goal gaped with Butland grounded. That he actually whipped his shot on to the crossbar felt utterly out of keeping with the senior campaign he has just enjoyed, though perhaps it also served as a reminder that this is a raw talent still under development.
Yet he had the strength of character and composure just seven minutes later to liberate Ousmane Dembélé to score this game’s fifth and final goal. That pair’s pace had tormented England all night, as Gareth Southgate went on to admit. “Today we had more legs,” offered Didier Deschamps.
The France manager had endured the shock of a qualifying defeat in Sweden last week, but he will go into the summer break convinced he boasts a thrilling side to carry his nation’s hopes to next summer’s World Cup.
England enjoyed their own moments to encourage them, with their entire set-up bolstered by the under-20s’ World Cup win on Sunday and the successful defence of the Toulon tournament. Indeed, Southgate had pointed pre-match to the youthful nature of his own selection as a cause of considerable optimism. But if England are a young team, then France are younger still.
They are benefiting now from the talent nurtured through their junior selections. There were eight players aged 23 or under in Deschamps’s squad here, and six members of Pierre Mankowski’s under-20s from 2013 who had beaten Uruguay in the age group’s World Cup final in Istanbul. Samuel Umtiti, suspended for that final but now developing at Barcelona, would slam the hosts level from close-range after Harry Kane’s early opener. The France captain in that tournament, Paul Pogba, is the world’s most expensive footballer and is already a figure of huge influence, a leader in youthful ranks whose distribution and presence dominated the centre here.
Even Raphaël Varane, whose dismissal early in the second half had threatened briefly to check the home side’s momentum, is only 24.
Yet that generation is already being bolstered by a new wave of wide-eyed talent pushing for regular involvement. While the core of Paul Simpson’s successful England squad cut their teeth at the under-19s European Championships last summer, beating the French in the group stage before losing to Italy in the last four, Les Bleus progressed further in Germany.
They claimed the trophy by thrashing the Azzurri 4-0 at the Rhein Neckar Arena in Sinsheim, with Jean-Kévin Augustin the Golden Boot winner and player of the tournament. Mbappé, right, despite scoring five himself, almost slipped under the radar, yet where Augustin has struggled to dislodge Edinson Cavani at Paris Saint-Germain, he has taken his opportunities at Stade Louis II. The youngest player to break into the France senior team since Maryan Wisniewski in 1955, the Monaco striker sports the strut, maturity and game intelligence of one well beyond his 18 years, and showcased his abilities at England’s expense.
His close control in tight areas left markers on their heels, his pace searing from a standing start. The goals will come. As a microcosm of his talent, take the sprint on to Pogba’s lofted pass beyond Phil Jones, and the delicious pass slipped in-field with the outside of a boot to liberate Dembélé. The 20-year-old, himself a stellar performer at Borussia Dortmund, missed that opportunity but offered reminders of his own precocious ability by capitalising on Cahill’s attempt at an interception just before the interval. The speed at which Dembélé glided into the penalty area, coaxed Stones to dive in as he twisted his body inside, and forced Tom Heaton to save took the breath away. Djibril Sidibé, almost middle-aged at 24, was so far up the pitch that the conversion of the rebound was a formality.
Throw in Thomas Lemar, a 21-year-old at Monaco, and Benjamin Mendy, 22 but injured early here, and there were bright young things in abundance.
“Of all the countries we’ve played at youth level, France have been the most impressive in terms of the depth of talent and the athletic profile of the players,” said Southgate. “But their league provides a better opportunity for young players to play regularly.”
That, very clearly, is to Deschamps’s benefit.
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