Giroud is the master of blindfolded geometry

If Olivier Giroud requires a post-football profession, he could try blindfolded knife-throwing at a circus. He is, after all, a master of eyes-closed geometry.

- Rohit Brijnath

You can replay the French striker's World Cup goal against Poland from any angle, even at slowed-down speed on YouTube, but he doesn't ever seem to look up. Yet in a split-second he computes where he is, who is coming, what the 'keeper is doing, how much to turn, and what his options are. It's instinctive skill at its polished best.

Giroud doesn't look anywhere except at the ball. He receives it from Kylian Mbappe and locks his eyes onto it. He taps the ball once with his left foot and fires as he swivels.

Two Mbappe goals will follow in the 3-1 round-of-16 victory against Poland, where he takes aim and then his foot morphs into a rocket launcher. His first one beats the elastic Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny for sheer pace but if his goals are dramatic, Giroud's is a minor masterpiece in awareness.

It is these little moments of polished execution which make a Cup. The long cross-field kicks which magically collapse 40 metres away onto someone's boot. The acceleration Mbappe produces down the wing, like a race car smoothly testing its gears.