As the ceremonies following the World Cup final have gotten longer, with more and more awards to be handed out, a slightly jarring phenomenon has become more prevalent. It’s that of the bitterly disappointed player being forced to look grateful as he is handed an award that, in the moment, he clearly couldn’t care less about.
Kylian Mbappé may in time come to cherish his Golden Boot—even if it seemed to have broken in his hands as he posed on the stage. He may come to celebrate the fact that he became only the second man to score a hat trick in a World Cup final.