Kylian Mbappé shakes off knee injury and sparks France’s 2-1 World Cup tuneup win over Brazil

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — The traffic on the way to France's World Cup tuneup against Brazil was a problem. Kylian Mbappé's knee was not.

The former Paris Saint-Germain and current Real Madrid star showed no ill effects from his knee injury on Thursday when he broke free for a goal to give France an early lead on its way to a 2-1 victory in a friendly between two of the world’s top teams.

Mbappé missed almost a month with a left knee sprain for Real Madrid before coming on as a substitute in the last two matches. France coach Didier Deschamps started Mbappé but had him on a limit of about an hour; he came off for a substitute in the 65th minute.

“He has a lot of desire, a lot of soreness in his legs,” Dechamps said. “Beyond that — the quality to make to make a difference, he’s always had.”

With a crowd of 66,215 heavily favoring Brazil, Mbappé and Hugo Ekitike gave France a 2-0 lead on the same pitch where they will play their final group stage game of this summer's World Cup, against Norway and Erling Haaland. Bremer cut the deficit to 2-1 in the 78th minute.

The friendly went off without any major hiccups despite the simmering feud between the town of Foxborough and World Cup organizers over almost $8 million in security costs. The sides reached an agreement two weeks ago in which the organizing committee promised to make the payment in advance and the town approved the necessary entertainment license.

That was expected to be the last remaining obstacle to the world's biggest sporting event arriving in this 20,000-person suburb tucked between Boston and Providence, Rhode Island, that swells to three times its size for New England Patriots games. To accommodate FIFA requirements, a grass field has replaced the artificial turf that had been used for the NFL’s Patriots and the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer.

“Good stadium. Good pitch. It was all OK to play good football,” Brazil coach Carlo Ancelotti said. “The atmosphere in the stadium was good — a lot of Brazilian supporters. Everything was fine, apart from the result.”

Deschamps said the biggest problem was the travel from Boston, about 25 miles away but part of it on a four-lane road with stoplights and tens of thousands of fans trying to get to the game.

“I am convinced that everything will be fine,” Deschamps said. “The most difficult thing are the trips that take a lot of time. ... One hour and 15 minutes before a game is not easy.”

The crowd was the second-largest to watch a soccer match at Gillette Stadium, behind only a 2007 friendly between Brazil and Mexico. It was speckled with fans in Brazilian yellow kits, with just a few French flags waving to celebrate Mbappé's goal. (The media dining room was more neutral, with madeleines, macarons and eclairs alongside Brazilian brigadeiro, pudim and mousse deo maracuja.)

Also in the house were coach Joe Mazzulla and players from the NBA’s Boston Celtics, with forward Jayson Tatum taking part in the pregame coin toss alongside Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey.

The 2018 World Cup champion and 2022 Golden Boot winner, Mbappé sprained his left knee in December but played through January before sitting out almost a month. He said on Monday that his injury was “truly behind me.” (Reports that said the team examined the wrong knee were false, Mbappé said at a news conference in Foxborough on Wednesday.)

And he showed it in the 32nd minute when Ousmane Dembélé delivered a through ball that left no one between the No. 2 scorer in French soccer history and the goalkeeper. Mbappé tapped it ahead once before chipping it over the keeper to make it 1-0.

France took a 2-0 lead in the 65th minute when Ekitike, Liverpool’s top scorer this season, converted a pass from Michael Olise in the penalty area. Mbappé left for a substitute immediately afterward.

After France's Dayot Upamecano was sent off in the 55th minute for taking down a player with a clear path to the goal, a card that was upgraded from yellow to red on video review, Brazil cut the deficit to 2-1 when Bremer redirected a cross from Luiz Henrique past France keeper Mike Maignan.

The game also featured a mid-half “cooling break” that enabled players to rest and hydrate — even though the temperature in early spring New England was in the mid-60s Fahrenheit (15 Celsius). After a heat wave during last year’s Club World Cup, FIFA announced that all games in the 2026 World Cup would include the break, regardless of the temperature on the pitch.

Brazil will play Croatia on Tuesday in Orlando, Florida, their first matchup since the 2022 World Cup quarterfinals.

“There are no friendlies for us," defender Leo Pereira said. "Every game is a big game, and we have to play it as if it was a World Cup final.”

France will play Colombia in Landover, Maryland, on Sunday.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Brazil's Raphinha gestures at referee Guido Gonzales Jr. during the international friendly soccer match between Brazil and France in Foxborough, Mass, Thursday, March 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Brazil's Bremer scores his side's first goal past France goalkeeper Mike Maignan during the international friendly soccer match between Brazil and France in Foxborough, Mass, Thursday, March 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Hugo Ekitike of France scores his side's second goal past Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson during the international friendly soccer match between Brazil and France in Foxborough, Mass, Thursday, March 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Desire Doue of France is fouled by Brazil's Bremer, right, during the international friendly soccer match between Brazil and France in Foxborough, Mass, Thursday, March 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Brazil's Casemiro, center, heads the ball during the international friendly soccer match between Brazil and France in Foxborough, Mass, Thursday, March 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Brazil's Vinicius Junior, front, supported by Brazil's Gabriel Martinelli in action during the international friendly soccer match between Brazil and France in Foxborough, Mass, Thursday, March 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Hugo Ekitike of France controls the ball as Brazil's Bremer looks on during the international friendly soccer match between Brazil and France in Foxborough, Mass, Thursday, March 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Kylian Mbappe of France gestures during the international friendly soccer match between Brazil and France in Foxborough, Mass, Thursday, March 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Kylian Mbappe of France, second right, celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the international friendly soccer match between Brazil and France in Foxborough, Mass, Thursday, March 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

A novel by Nobel laureate Han Kang, Karen Hao's examination of artificial intelligence and OpenAI (the company behind ChatGPT) and a memoir by the author Arundhati Roy were among the winners Thursday of the annual National Book Critics Circle awards.

Han's "We Do Not Part,” translated by e.yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris, addresses a 1948-1949 uprising on Jeju, an island south of the Korean mainland, in which thousands of people were killed.

Heather Scott Partington, who chaired the awards' fiction committee, described the novel as “a work of blinding melancholy, bleak weather, and murmuring syntax” and said it "lingers like an atmospheric and arresting dream.”

The lifetime achievement award went to author and journalist Frances FitzGerald, whose 1972 "Fire in the Lake” was an early and prescient take on the Vietnam War.

NPR and PBS were presented with the achievement award honoring institutions that have made significant contributions to book culture.

"At a time when some question the value of public, service-minded media, we salute PBS and NPR for all you have done for both book culture and American democracy,” said Jacob M. Appel, who chaired the selection process for the award.

Winners of other categories:

— Hao's “Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI” won for nonfiction.

— Roy's “Mother Mary Comes to Me” won for autobiography.

— Alex Green's “A Perfect Turmoil: Walter E. Fernald and the Struggle to Care for America’s Disabled” won for biography.

— Kevin Young's “Night Watch” won for poetry.

— “Sad Tiger” by Neige Sinno and translated by Natasha Lehrer won the translation prize honoring both the author and translator.

The National Book Critics Circle was founded in New York in 1974 and consists of more than 850 critics and editors. Its annual awards honor the best books published in the past year in the United States.

FILE - Writer and activist Arundhati Roy participates in a protest at the press club of India in New Delhi, India, Oct. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri, File)

FILE - Nobel laureate in literature Han Kang speaks during the Nobel Banquet in City Hall in Stockholm, Dec. 10, 2024. (Christine Olsson/TT News Agency via AP, File)WLD