One Extraordinary Photo: Mbappe's joy and satisfaction after a hard-fought match

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PHILDELPHIA (AP) — Martin Meissner is a staff photographer for The Associated Press. He is based in Germany, near Duesseldorf. Meissner has been with the AP for more than 25 years and is covering his sixth World Cup.

I was covering the match between France and Paraguay on Saturday from the right far corner. At the final whistle signaling the end of the match, an emotional Kylian Mbappe shouts out, expressing his joy after France won on his penalty kick and advanced to the World Cup quarterfinals.

I flew to the match in Philadelphia from Boston on Saturday, the morning of America’s birthday, which also happens to be my birthday. The temperatures in the stadium for the July 4 afternoon match were almost 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) — and that was in the shadows. For me, there was no shade. My position for more than three hours was in the far right corner, under the bright hot sun. Due to the extreme heat, a photographer two seats beside me who couldn’t stand it anymore and was led out of the pitch position. For a soccer match on this level, especially when it comes down to just one goal, you have to stay focused until the very end. One moment could have changed the whole story of this hard-fought match. After 10 minutes of additional time, I stayed on the key player of the match — Mbappe — and waited for his reaction using a 400mm long lens.

The moment Mbappe shouts out, his joy encapsulates the entire match in a single image. Paraguay played the entire match using question tactics, repeatedly provoking Mbappe. The physical play was so rough that after the match when the Paraguay goalkeeper extended his hand to congratulate Mbappe, the French superstar swatted it away. This photo at the final whistle captures the sense of satisfaction that came pouring out after winning the match despite the questionable tactics.

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