The sweat dripped off Karim Benzema’s nose as he waited over the penalty spot. The delay while order was restored around him must have felt like aeons dragging in slow motion. There was certainly plenty of time for the France striker to reflect on the meaning of the kick he was about to take.
The injury that ruled Franck Ribéry out of the 23 late in the day left Benzema as France’s most experienced player in the current squad. This was his 67th appearance, over an enigmatic spell with Les Bleus that spans seven years. And yet, as he stood over the ball, the importance of this moment for himself as well as his country was inescapable. In all that time Benzema had never scored a goal in a major finals. It was a sequence he could ill afford to extend.
He stared down, eyes on the ball. The game until that point had irritated like a relentless toothache. Benzema had been clumped in a challenge, headed a free-kick with rueful softness, shot into a defender when he might have passed to a free team-mate. He took a breath and thumped his penalty home. It was a liberating moment. In the elation of the celebration was an obvious sense of how dearly he craved a tournament goal for his CV.
Benzema is the focal point for a France attack that has emerged from a period of struggle. Goals were hard to come by at the midway point of their World Cup qualification campaign. The Real Madrid striker epitomised this problem when he endured a long spell, of well over a calendar year, without an international goal. As recently as last March his place in the natural order of the French attack was under such intense scrutiny that stories calling for the axe were commonplace. “Benzema, that’s enough” was the exasperated headline in L’Equipe as his goalless run lengthened and confidence plummeted.
After 1,222 barren minutes, Benzema was unshackled by a goal in a springtime friendly against Australia. Since then, he has blossomed in the blue jersey. That successful penalty to alter the complexion of a difficult assignment against the spoiling Hondurans was his seventh goal in as many matches.
It was a vital turning point. The breakthrough brought immense relief for a France team that had been frustrated and provoked (precariously so in the case of the altercation where Wilson Palacios goaded Paul Pogba’s self restraint – the precious midfielder might have seen red, before Palacios was eventually removed for his serial fouling). Honduras took no notice of the prevailing spirit of adventure that has finessed the opening to this World Cup.
Such aggressive killjoy tactics were a challenge to a France team that has recently developed a new attacking verve. Even so, the combination of Benzema’s intelligent runs, with Mathieu Valbuena and newcomer Antoine Griezmann zipping and passing skilfully around him, augers well for Didier Deschamps. He has options, with the height of Olivier Giroud and the more direct pace of Loïc Rémy to throw into the mix, too. There is interesting scope for varation there.
The movement among France’s attacking trio was encouraging, with the supporting cast from midfield also keen to arrive in search of a goal.
Benzema’s status as the attacking kingpin was cemented just after half-time, even if the circumstances were bizarre, as his smart volley cracked against the inside of the far post, along the goalline, and only just in off the Honduras goalkeeper before he grabbed it. The zany goalline technology quiz shouldn’t take anything away from Benzema’s crafted technique, though.
The longer the game went on, the more Benzema began to enjoy the experience, and when he scored again with a rasping drive from a sharp angle he gave notice of his intention to make a striking statement in Brazil. He was not selected for the 2010 World Cup – which in hindsight turned out to be no bad thing. His stock for country and club, where he is the valued Real Madrid attacking pivot around whom Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale roam free, has never been so high.
Having waited years for this moment, Benzema at last looks at home on the World Cup stage.
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