Thursday World Cup takeaways: France wins, concern for Kylian Mbappe and hotel hijinks for Norway

Kylian Mbappé's mystery injury cut celebrations short

Being the difference-maker comes with a heavy price, though. After a brutal — but fair — physical match that saw him take the brunt of Morocco's on-the-field frustration, Mbappé exited France's World Cup quarterfinal in the 76th minute after going down grabbing his right foot. He walked off the field with no apparent limp and didn't seem to be in any serious distress, but was later seen wincing with ice packs and tape strapped around the offending digit. 

France is more than just Mbappé. Its famous attack features the likes of Michael Olise, Bradley Barcola, Desire Doue and current Ballon D'Or holder Ousmane Dembele. If it loses Mbappé to injury in the World Cup semifinal, it will still be competitive. But it's a shame to see such a powerful player go down at such a crucial moment — and the status of Mbappé's right foot will no doubt be the biggest story at the tournament for the next few days.

Norway faced an annoying administrative problem

Call the World Cup what you want — multinational, grand, exciting, inspiring — but don't ever call it glamorous. There's nothing particularly luxe about schlepping between hotels for six weeks at a time with your teammates, and the Norwegian national team learned that the hard way as it prepared for its upcoming quarterfinal with England in Miami.

After settling in at the Dalmar Hotel in Fort Lauderdale — a five-star property by most rankings — the team discovered that nearby construction and heavy traffic congestion meant that they weren't able to rest and recover as needed. The whole team abandoned the location altogether and moved to a new hotel closer to Miami proper.

"It is brutal having to move, but we are satisfied with the new place, and everyone is happy now," said Norway logistics manager Truls Dæhli. "Some people might fear that this will affect the players, but it was the players who wanted this more than anyone else."

Christian Pulisic came clean

U.S. Men's National Team star Christian Pulisic took plenty of heat for getting subbed out of his team's 4-1 Round of 16 loss to Belgium with what appeared to be a minor knock. Turns out, that heat was unwarranted. The team and player confirmed that he suffered a leg micro-fracture in the match and would be out of commission for several weeks.

The announcement came days after American pundit Carli Lloyd laid into Pulisic online, telling him "you rest when your playing career is over, period." After hearing the news of his legitimate injury, Lloyd maintained that she did not owe Pulisic an apology; she did not, however, clarify how he could've possibly played a World Cup knockout match on a broken leg.

The World Cup quarterfinals will continue on Friday with Spain taking on Belgium in Los Angeles. Then on Saturday, England will take on Norway in Miami, and Argentina will play Switzerland in Kansas City.