In the France camp in Dallas, a few of the players at first, had gathered in one of the common rooms after their own training session wrapped up.
The Spain game had been put on, and gradually chairs had filled up around the screen.
Mbappé had been one of the last to sit down.
He'd come in for some fruits, seen the screen, seen the scoreline and had decided to stay.
"Damn," Upamecano muttered as he stretched on the couch.
"Come on, bro. It's Cape Verde," Camavinga said, from somewhere behind him.
He wasn't trying to be dismissive about it, but it came out that way.
"Hate to say it, but yeah," Tchouameni agreed. "Still, they qualified, so they're not nothing."
"Do you think we could do the same?" Lucas Hernandez said a second later.
At that, the room went quiet, like they were introspecting, before, "Hell Yeah," Desire Doue spat, causing the players around to chuckle.
It wasn't only the French team, though.
Across the nation, similar scenes played out in other camps.
