Miroslav Klose reached 16 goals across four World Cups without owing anything to penalties. The 11-meter exercise is ultimately not the formality one might think. Proof: the two leading scorers before the semi-finals of this 2026 World Cup, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé, will have missed two and one respectively. Lionel Messi especially, known for finding improbable angles and unstoppable far-post shots when it comes to free kicks, seems afflicted with a peculiar handicap in this solitary face-off with the goalkeeper: across six World Cup editions, the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner will have missed half of them, exactly four out of eight attempts. The psychological advantage would therefore be on the side of modern goalkeepers, especially when their "Yashin Trophy" reputation precedes them and when, at their meter-ninety height, they seem capable of "blocking" every square centimeter of a rectangle 7.32 meters wide and 2.44 meters high. Much blame was heaped on German players who refused to take the sixth penalty during the shootout against Paraguay: which is more shameful, this anticipated defection or the fear of consequences from a shaky attempt? The latest punchline, which is fashionable to condemn as "racism," comes from former Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy about the French football team: "a France without French." In much the same vein, concerning Lamine Yamal, who chose to play for Spain rather than wear Morocco's jersey, the discourse from Moroccan Football Federation president Fouzi Lekjaa was not labeled "hateful": "I don't know any Spaniard named Jamel," he said. What to make also of thousands of Malagasy comments ironizing about Françafrique at the World Cup? By the way, where was the outrage when, in the enthusiasm of a victorious 1998 World Cup, it was fashionable in France to celebrate a "Black-White-Arab" team? Nasolo-Valiavo Andriamihaja