Ibrahima Konate was one of few France players who was trying to win his first World Cup on Sunday evening.
Indeed, most of the players on the pitch for Didier Deschamps’ side at the Lusail Stadium had lifted that trophy back in 2018, but as one of the younger members of the group, Konate wasn’t there for the success in Russia.
Konate played his part brilliantly after coming off the bench for France, but sadly, it wasn’t enough as Argentina triumphed on penalties.
Konate and his teammates had to settle for a runners’ up medal in Qatar, and to make their loss even more painful, they had to walk past the trophy as they collected their second-place prize.
There was a fantastic picture taken of Konate during the presentation showing just how close the player came to the World Cup trophy.
If ever a picture captured the fine line between success and failure in this sport, this is it.
Konate was two penalty kicks away from the ultimate prize in this game, but instead he was left feeling pure dejection.
Look at his reaction as he walks past the trophy, he daren’t even look at the prize he’s just missed out on – you can tell this is a player with regrets over what has just unfolded.
Luckily for Konate, this may just be the beginning of his international exploits.
France came within moments of winning this World Cup, and their final performance was spearheaded by their next generation of stars as the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Randal Kolo Muani, Marcus Thuram, Eduardo Camavinga and Aurelien Tchouamni all starred.
This may feel like the end of an era for some of these France players, but make no mistake about it, the next generation is just as brilliant as the current one, and Konate will have a big part to play in that.
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