Episode 3601: Mbappé Misses Then Hits, Golden Boot Golden Era, FIFA’s chosen semi finals

France dominated Morocco from start to finish but Mbappé missed a penalty and looked off his game, so after an hour and the score still nil nil, a few French fans started to shift uneasily in their seats. That was until Mbappé woke up and guided a perfect shot into the top corner of the Moroccan goal.

We chat to Ken about the contrast between the perfection of Mbappé’s strike and his shocking penalty, his ability to turn a bad performance into a good one, the insane number of great players in the golden boot race, FIFA’s ideal semi final line up, and who can even give France a game.

And we chat to Erik Bielderman, who has covered France at eight world cups for L’Équipe.

Click the player at the top of the page to play the show. Monday’s shows are free to all. To listen to all our World Cup programming throughout the rest of the week, join the Second Captains World Service. There’s no contracts, no hidden fees and shows can be listened to on all good podcast apps, on Spotify or through our website. It’s independent, commercial-free and member-led with feature interviews, breaking news, Ken’s Football Show, The Politics Podcast, and lots of added extras. You’ll also be supporting the development of our longer-form work, such as our international series’  ‘Where Is George Gibney?’ and Stakeknife.