Mbappé to Face Good Friend Hakimi in World Cup Semifinal 

Achraf Hakimi and Kylian Mbappé. (AFP)
Achraf Hakimi and Kylian Mbappé. (AFP)
TT
20

Mbappé to Face Good Friend Hakimi in World Cup Semifinal 

Achraf Hakimi and Kylian Mbappé. (AFP)
Achraf Hakimi and Kylian Mbappé. (AFP)

Kylian Mbappé is going to meet his good friend Achraf Hakimi again at this World Cup. 

Not like the first time in Qatar last week, when the France star went to visit his Paris Saint-Germain teammate at the Morocco team hotel in downtown Doha. 

On Wednesday, Mbappé will be marked by Hakimi in a World Cup semifinal — his path to Morocco’s well-defended goal down the French left wing blocked by a player he rates highly. 

“ACHRAF HAKIMI. BEST RB IN THE WORLD,” Mbappé wrote in English on his Twitter account in January, referring to the right back position Hakimi occupies for club and country. 

It is a high-level duel as both approach a World Cup summit that would be historic for either team. 

Mbappé versus Hakimi — the tournament’s top scorer with five goals in five games against the standout talent in the tournament-best defense that has conceded just once, and it was an own-goal. 

It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship when the Moroccan player joined Mbappé at PSG in July 2021 from Inter Milan for a transfer fee reported to be 60 million euros ($63 million). 

Two young men born within several weeks of each other in 1998 — just a few months after France won its first World Cup title — soon got along. 

Hakimi has talked of how they share the same tastes in music and video games, and that Mbappé helps his Madrid-born friend learn French. 

Hakimi is a devout Muslim and for the Eid Mubarak holiday this year they teamed up for a video shared by their club. Hakimi guided Mbappé, who has family ties to Morocco’s north African neighbor Algeria, through tasting food from the Arab region. 

On the field for the French champion, they have a series of rehearsed handshakes and goal celebrations. Playing for PSG gives them many opportunities. 

“It’s easy to play with a player like him,” Hakimi has said of Mbappé. “To give him the ball, knowing that he will make the difference.” 

Mbappé has been the difference at this World Cup, especially when he scored twice in wins over Denmark in the group stage and Poland in the round of 16. 

In the quarterfinals on Saturday, Mbappé was kept in check about as much as is possible by England’s speedy right back Kyle Walker. He got just one clear shooting chance that went high and wide. 

Still, he was involved in the move that led to France’s first goal in a 2-1 win and the decisive late winner followed a corner on the left flank that he helped create. 

Morocco’s defense has stood like an immovable force and all its European opponents so far — Croatia, Belgium, Spain and Portugal — failed to score in four full games plus extra time for the Spanish. 

Hakimi has helped limit Morocco’s opponents to just 10 goal attempts on target combined, according to FIFA post-game statistics. Canada got an own-goal from defender Nayef Aguerd in a 2-1 win for Morocco. 

Mbappé, meanwhile, has had 10 shots on target just by himself for a France team whose 11-goal total is the best of the four semifinalists. 

At Al Khor Stadium on Wednesday, Mbappé continues pursuing his goal of being the youngest player besides Pelé to have two World Cup titles. France can become the first to retain its title since Pelé and Brazil in 1962. 

Hakimi wants to be among the first African players to reach a World Cup final. That would be against either Croatia or Argentina, whose star Lionel Messi also plays for Qatar-owned PSG. 

May the best friend win. 



Swiatek: Losing at French Open Lifted the Pressure for Wimbledon

Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 10, 2025 Poland's Iga Swiatek celebrates after winning her semi final match against Switzerland's Belinda Bencic REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq
Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 10, 2025 Poland's Iga Swiatek celebrates after winning her semi final match against Switzerland's Belinda Bencic REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq
TT
20

Swiatek: Losing at French Open Lifted the Pressure for Wimbledon

Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 10, 2025 Poland's Iga Swiatek celebrates after winning her semi final match against Switzerland's Belinda Bencic REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq
Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 10, 2025 Poland's Iga Swiatek celebrates after winning her semi final match against Switzerland's Belinda Bencic REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq

There are few benefits to losing in the semi-finals of a Grand Slam but when Iga Swiatek had her fingers prised off the French Open trophy, it had one unexpected benefit -- it lifted the pressure off her shoulders heading into Wimbledon.

Swiatek crushed Switzerland's Belinda Bencic 6-2 6-0 to reach the Wimbledon final on Thursday after years of trying and failing to make a major impact at the grasscourt Grand Slam.

She has made no secret of her preference for clay courts and her four French Open titles were clear evidence that Paris's red dirt was more to her liking than Wimbledon's lawns, Reuters reported.

Yet her defeat to Aryna Sabalenka in the French Open semi-finals in early June ended her chances of a fourth straight title in Paris and ensured few were tipping her for a career-best run at Wimbledon.

"I think I'm not going to have seasons where the pressure is not going to be kind of forced on me from the expectations from the outside anymore," she said after setting up a Saturday showdown against American Amanda Anisimova.

"Every year I guess it's kind of the same but I feel sometimes I can handle it better or ignore it. Sometimes a bit worse.

"I don't know. Like, honestly, I think it's easier if you haven't won Roland Garros and also if you had more time to practice.

"If I win Roland Garros and then I come here and everybody ask me already about... They put, like, super high expectations."

Five-times Grand Slam winner Swiatek was in a league of her own on a scorching Centre Court on Thursday, blitzing past Tokyo Olympic champion Bencic in the blink of an eye.

She has dropped only one set in her run to the final and suddenly looks at home on grass, a surface she has previously struggled to master.

"Every point is different and every match I need to adjust my game but for sure I feel like I improved my movement," she said, summing up what had changed for her on the surface. "I’m serving really well and I feel really confident, so I’m just going for it and it’s working so I will keep doing that."