The world is standing behind Kylian Mbappe after the blatantly racist and disgusting remarks from a Paraguayan politician, as even the French president and United Nations have stood in support of the Real Madrid superstar.
On the field, Mbappe is squarely in the running with Lionel Messi and Erling Haaland for the Golden Boot, and he has been one of the MVP's of the tournament, racking up the goals and making the difficult look breathless.
But Mbappe could be up against it in the World Cup quarterfinals when France take on Morocco. Not only will the Madrid man be up against his old PSG teammate and homegrown Madridista Achraf Hakimi at right back, but French fans will also feel that he is going up against the refs.
Kylian Mbappe has no shortage of motivation
FIFA have not endeared themselves at all to the public lately by overturning Folarin Balogun's red card just a day before the United States, one of the host nations, battled Belgium in the Round of 16. While Balogun's clumsy challenge did not merit a red, it was rather unfair to have overturned the call just a day before, putting Belgium in an unfair position.
Now, the French have a reason to gripe with FIFA, too, because all the referees for the match between Morocco and France will be from Argentina. Not only is it the first time at this entire 2026 World Cup that an entire officiating crew will come from one country, but there has to be a clear conflict of interest in having an all Argentina crew when France and Argentina literally faced each other in the final of the last World Cup and could very well be on track to do so again in 2026.
Even if it is only implicit, there will be questions of bias whenever the Argentina crew make a call, and, in al honesty, fans around the world have already taken umbrage with a lot of the calls made in favor of Argentina in their recent comeback wins over underdogs Cape Verde and Egypt.
Kylian Mbappe laughed in the face of adversity against Paraguay in the Round of 16, and now he will have to deal with more controversy and accusations of a conspiracy from FIFA and Argentina against France. That will be even more motivation for Mbappe to have another World Cup for the ages, having already received plenty of motivation from Real Madrid fans after a difficult 2025/26 season.
Add us as a preferred source on Google