England must tackle Kylian Mbappe’s blistering pace in the chase for the Golden Boot

Identifying hazards is the easy part. Everyone knows the qualities of Kylian Mbappé. He is red hot in the desert and sets a breakneck pace in the quest for the Golden Boot.

On the right, Ousmane Dembele balances the team very well and, with Antoine Griezmann deeper, they have someone with the vision and instinct to get the ball to them at the right time.

Canceling France is another matter. These three creative stars can influence the game every time they take the ball. Opponents can try to cut the supply line or push them out, but the beauty for boss Didier Deschamps is that if they squeeze one, another has room to maneuver.

But let’s start with Mbappé, scorer of two against Poland and top scorer of this World Cup with five. He is electric on the left and perhaps the most destructive footballer in the world, especially if he is allowed to isolate his full-back.

Explosive from a standing start, Mbappe can move effortlessly on either foot and has the ability to pause, stop play, and start again in an instant, leaving his entire back on his feet as he runs to the line and shoots square crosses.

“With time on the ball and space to run, it’s impossible to stop him,” said Mauricio Pochettino and he should know this, having coached him for 18 months at Paris Saint-Germain.

After spending half an hour tormenting Poland’s Matty Cash on the outside, he slipped inside to set up Olivier Giroud’s opener. He then scored his two goals by cutting inside and splashing the goal with his right foot.

The second was a flashing blow. The first was indebted to Giroud’s link and movement game, first to find Dembélé on the counterattack and then to open up space with a disinterested run.

No wonder Deschamps patted him on the back when Giroud came out. With the 36-year-old as the center of gravity, attacking rhythms flow naturally around him.

Absorbing six injuries to key players is a testament to France’s depth. Perhaps it also sped up the evolutionary cycle, injecting the youthful energy of Aurelien Tchouameni, Dayot Upamecano and Theo Hernandez into a wise old team.

Giroud, called up to replace Karim Benzema, is the magic gel, complementing the strengths of Mbappe and Dembele.

No team wants to lose a Ballon d’Or winner. Surely there will be a time later in the World Cup when Deschamps will wish he had Benzema there. So far, however, they are doing well.

Giroud is now France’s all-time leading goalscorer and, in a scoring rhythm, was denied a perfectly good second goal after it was inexplicably disallowed for a foul on the keeper.

Add to this the power from set pieces of Giroud, Raphael Varane and Upamecano and the exceptional delivery of Griezmann.

However, at the back, France will offer opportunities. They are so committed to moving forward in style that they risk leaving space, nowhere more than behind Mbappe, who is given license not to back down.

An injury to Lucas Hernández has promoted his brother and Theo’s instinct is to step forward and combine with Mbappé, trusting Adrien Rabiot to cover.

Poland capitalized on this in the first half and carved out another chance behind Jules Kounde, a central defender deployed at right-back.

Any team that beats France will have to show courage and attack them.

Varane doesn’t look at his best after injuries and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris is erratic, combining world-class saves with mishandling under high balls in a crowd. You can also be casual with the layout of it.