Mbappe shakes off knee injury, sparks France’s 2-1 WC tuneup win

The traffic on the way to France’s World Cup tuneup against Brazil was a problem. Kylian Mbappe’s knee was not. The former Paris Saint-Germain and current Real Madrid star showed no ill effects from his knee injury on Thursday when he broke free for a goal to give France an early lead on its way to a 2-1 victory in a friendly between two of the world’s top teams.

Mbappe missed almost a month with a left knee sprain for Real Madrid before coming on as a substitute in the last two matches. France coach Didier Deschamps started Mbappe but had him on a limit of about an hour; he came off for a substitute in the 65th minute. “He has a lot of desire, a lot of soreness in his legs,” Dechamps said.

“Beyond that — the quality to make a difference he’s always had.” With a crowd of 66,215 heavily favouring Brazil, Mbappe and Hugo Ekitike gave France a 2-0 lead on the same pitch where they will play their final group stage game of this summer’s World Cup, against Norway and Erling Haaland. Bremer cut the deficit to 2-1 in the 78th minute. The friendly went off without any major hiccups despite the simmering feud between the town of Foxborough and World Cup organisers over almost $8 million in security costs. The sides reached an agreement two weeks ago in which the organising committee promised to make the payment in advance and the town approved the necessary entertainment licence.

That was expected to be the last remaining obstacle to the world’s biggest sporting event arriving in this 20,000-person suburb tucked between Boston and Providence, Rhode Island, that swells to three times its size for New England Patriots games. To accommodate FIFA requirements, a grass field has replaced the artificial turf that had been used for the NFL’s Patriots and the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer. “Good stadium. Good pitch. It was all OK to play good football,” Brazil coach Carlo Ancelotti said. “The atmosphere in the stadium was good — a lot of Brazilian supporters. Everything was fine, apart from the result.”

Deschamps said the biggest problem was the travel from Boston, about 25 miles away but part of it on a four-lane road with stoplights and tens of thousands of fans trying to get to the game. “I am convinced that everything will be fine,” Deschamps said. “The most difficult thing are the trips that take a lot of time. ... One hour and 15 minutes before a game is not easy.”

The crowd was the second-largest to watch a soccer match at Gillette Stadium, behind only a 2007 friendly between Brazil and Mexico. It was speckled with fans in Brazilian yellow kits, with just a few French flags waving to celebrate Mbappe’s goal. (The media dining room was more neutral, with madeleines, macarons and eclairs alongside Brazilian brigadeiro, pudim and mousse deo maracuja.)

Also in the house were coach Joe Mazzulla and players from the NBA’s Boston Celtics, with forward Jayson Tatum taking part in the pregame coin toss alongside Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey. The 2018 World Cup champion and 2022 Golden Boot winner, Mbappe, sprained his left knee in December but played through January before sitting out almost a month.

He said on Monday that his injury was “truly behind me.” (Reports that said the team examined the wrong knee were false, Mbappe said at a news conference in Foxborough on Wednesday.)

And he showed it in the 32nd minute when Ousmane Dembele delivered a through ball that left no one between the No. 2 scorer in French soccer history and the goalkeeper. Mbappe tapped it ahead once before chipping it over the keeper to make it 1-0.

France took a 2-0 lead in the 65th minute when Ekitike, Liverpool’s top scorer this season, converted a pass from Michael Olise in the penalty area. Mbappe left for a substitute immediately afterward.

After France’s Dayot Upamecano was sent off in the 55th minute for taking down a player with a clear path to the goal, a card that was upgraded from yellow to red on video review, Brazil cut the deficit to 2-1 when Bremer redirected a cross from Luiz Henrique past France keeper Mike Maignan.

The game also featured a mid-half “cooling break” that enabled players to rest and hydrate - even though the temperature in early spring New England was in the mid-60s Fahrenheit (15 Celsius). After a heat wave during last year’s Club World Cup, FIFA announced that all games in the 2026 World Cup would include the break, regardless of the temperature on the pitch.