Mbappe's five standout games for France as 100th cap approaches

Let’s look back at the five major moments of an extraordinary career.

Nine years ago, an 18-year-old kid came on against Luxembourg in the 78th minute. No one knew it yet, but that appearance would change the face of the French team for an entire generation. This Monday night in Philadelphia, Kylian Mbappe will step onto the pitch for the 100th time in the French shirt, against Iraq.

An incredible number for someone who will turn 28 at the end of the year and can already boast having broken every record with Les Bleus, including the top scorer record against Senegal, which he now holds with 58 goals.

2017: A first in 2017, a first goal in a crucial win

On March 25, 2017, Mbappe became the second youngest player ever to wear the France senior team shirt, making his debut against Luxembourg.

Not yet 19, coming off an extraordinary season with Monaco, where he was French champion and a Champions League semi-finalist, he joined the national team as if he had always belonged.

His first international goal came five months later, in a 4-0 win over the Netherlands at the Stade de France in the match that sealed France’s qualification for the Russian World Cup, and just hours after his transfer to PSG. In just a few months, he had already established himself in Didier Deschamps’ squad not as a prospect to be eased in, but as a potential starter. The path was set, and so was his cruising speed.

2018: World champion at 19

This was the summer that changed everything. While all of France was already excited about the Bondy prodigy, the world discovered Mbappé in Russia as Les Bleus were crowned world champions thanks to their wonderkid.

He became the second youngest player after Pele to score a brace in the knockout stage, doing so in the round of 16 against Argentina, and then scored in the final, a 4-2 win over Croatia.

That round of 16 against the Albiceleste remains one of the defining matches of his blue legend: on the left wing, he tormented Marcos Rojo, won penalties, scored twice, and almost single-handedly knocked out Argentina. Scoring four times in the tournament, he left with the Best Young Player award at the World Cup. At 19, Mbappé was a world champion, with a title that bore his signature.

2021: The Swiss heartbreak

Not everything is rosy in this blue story. At Euro 2020, Mbappe missed the decisive penalty that sent France out in the round of 16 against Switzerland. A dark night in Bucharest, painful images replayed over and over: the ball flying over the bar, his devastated face, tears barely held back. And a flood of insults on social media.

For the first time, the public saw Mbappé falter on the international stage, and some began to question his ability to deliver in big moments. France won the Nations League that same year, and Mbappe answered the doubts by scoring and providing an assist in the final against Spain. In November 2021, he netted four goals against Kazakhstan in World Cup qualifying, the first Frenchman to do so since Just Fontaine in 1958.

2022: A hat-trick in vain in the World Cup final

In a final played on December 18 in Qatar, Mbappe made history even without winning the trophy. For sixty minutes, France were a shadow of themselves, trailing 2-0, unable to find their rhythm against a well-organised Argentina led by an imperial Lionel Messi. Then the French striker finally stepped up.

In less than two minutes, he equalised with a penalty and then a left-footed volley. The match turned, went to extra time, and he scored a third goal at the end to force a penalty shootout. He became the first player since England’s Geoff Hurst in 1966 to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final, and finished as the tournament’s top scorer with eight goals. But France lost on penalties, and the second world title slipped away from Mbappe, who promised to come back stronger.

2026: Records galore and a few years to make them untouchable

And he did come back stronger. Against Senegal in the opening match of the 2026 World Cup, Mbappe scored twice to surpass Olivier Giroud and become the sole top scorer in the history of the French national team, with 58 goals. He also broke Just Fontaine’s World Cup record, bringing his total to 14 goals in the competition.

At 27 and now captain of Les Bleus, he is no longer just the promise everyone was waiting for, but almost a veteran whom everyone relies on to bring France a third star.

Against Iraq, he reaches 100 caps and is just 47 away from breaking the French men’s team record held by Hugo Lloris (147 caps). Unless he aims to surpass the all-time mark of Eugenie Le Sommer (200).