Harry Van der Saag was stunned to realise he’d be making his debut for Sydney FC in 2019 – then it dawned on him his assignment was to mark Kylian Mbappe, writes Tom Smithies.
Harry Van der Saag can sympathise with Nahuel Molina only too well. You focus, you concentrate, you track… and then Kylian Mbappe has gone from where he was to somewhere you don’t want him to be, and the damage is done before you can even think.
If Molina’s encounter with France’s jet-heeled hero in the FIFA Men’s World Cup final ended well, with a winner’s medal despite Mbappe’s hat-trick against Argentina, so did Van der Saag’s. The Adelaide United utility still has the Mbappe shirt he secured at half-time of his first ever professional game – the day he played for Sydney FC against Paris Saint-Germain, with a brief to mark the French superstar.
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There were a few harsh lessons learnt that day too, including receiving a yellow card for a foul he insists was borne of the winger’s explosive acceleration – the whole thing still leaves Van der Saag shaking his head at the “surreal” memory, especially after watching Mbappe win the Golden Boot at the World Cup these past few weeks.
Van der Saag was just 19 and still not on a full professional contract when he travelled with the Sydney squad to take on PSG in Shanghai in July 2019, hoping at best to be on the bench.
That was, until a stomach bug swept through the squad, and Sydney head coach Steve Corica casually mentioned to Van der Saag that he would be starting at right-back. Even then, it was only in the midst of a video analysis session that Van der Saag made the connection with who was likely to be on the left wing for PSG.
“I had a range of emotions to be honest,” Van der Saag tells KEEPUP now. “There was disbelief at first, nervousness, then some excitement really.
“You’re playing against a World Cup winner, but beyond that against one of the best young players in the world – and it’s your first game of professional football. So I had a few things to take in.”
Most of all it’s the explosions of pace that Van der saag recalls now, the ability to explode from nowhere – and then to finish even a half chance with ruthlessness. Just as Molina was left trailing in Mbappe’s wake as he essayed a one-two and volleyed home France’s first equaliser in the World Cup final, so Van der saag could only watch as the Frenchman swapped passes with Juan Bernat for PSG three years ago before smashing home his side’s first goal against Sydney.
“When he turns it on, it’s freakish, hard to describe,” Van der Saag says. “He won’t have much of the ball, you think he’s being well marked, and out of the blue something happens.
“That’s a bit like France overall – not seeming to do much and then suddenly they’re so dangerous – like a tidal wave of Mbappe.
“It’s been incredible to see him keep achieving so much because he’d already done so much early on in his career, but his stats just keep getting better and better. I saw some comparisons with him and Messi, and it’s frightening where Mbappe could end up at.
“Everyone knows how good he is now, but that still doesn’t mean you can stop him.”
Van der Saag will be missing when Adelaide host Newcastle United on December 27 as he recovers from recent knee surgery, but in the meantime he has other matters to address.
At half-time of that game in Shanghai he realised Mbappe was coming off, and requested a cheeky shirt swap. “I’ve still got it, obviously,” he says now.
“I’m going to get round to framing it soon.”
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