July 14, France National Day. Emmenez-moi by Charles Aznavour playing on the video boards, Kylian Mbappé smiling as he jumped onto the field in the third World Cup semifinal of his life on the way to his third final. The bleus with destiny on the horizon, about to become the third team in history to reach three consecutive finals after Germany and Brazil. An ‘F‘ formed by balls on the grass of the AT&T Stadium before the warm-up. The tribute for the ten years since the tragic Nice attack… All the emotional details of the match pushed in favor of France, but Spain, this Spain of Luis de la Fuente, is already the great nightmare of this French generation.
Read more The choir boys take the Bastille of the stars
“It is a great disappointment,” Mbappé admitted on television, the only stop he made before the media. “Fabián and Rodri had plenty of time to play. There was a lack of communication regarding the pressure. I think we should have played one-on-one, forcing them to run with us. And when we recovered the ball, our first touches were not up to the level of a World Cup semifinal. We did not do everything possible to reach the final,” he reflected.
In the press room, Deschamps, incomprehensibly, complained about the referee: “We must be realistic and recognize that today we were a step below the technical level against a team that knew what it was doing. The fault is mainly ours, but I ask a question, and I am not going to answer it: Is the referee good enough to officiate a World Cup semifinal? And I do not say this because we lost, but there were certain situations… Often unfavorable also for us,” he pointed out-
Two years after falling in the Eurocup semifinals, in that match that put Lamine Yamal in the global media spotlight, France knelt again before Spain. Helpless. Desperate. It is now three consecutive years in three different competitions, always in semifinals: Eurocup (2-1), Nations League (5-4), and World Cup (2-0).
The choir boys take the Bastille of the stars
- Editorial: ORFEO SUÁREZ
From the 2010 champions to the Beckhams, passing through Usain Bolt
- Editorial: ANA VICEDO
«Take me to the ends of the earth, to the land of wonders», sings Aznavour and the French stands have sung in the song that has gone viral among their fans during this World Cup. The land of wonders was the galaxy formed by Mbappé, Dembélé, Olise and company, unstoppable throughout the tournament until midday in Dallas.
France had accumulated 16 goals, six wins in six matches, no extra time, more than seven shots on goal per game, the most in the entire World Cup… Data that explained their theoretical superiority over the rest, but in the first half against Spain they were scoreless on all levels. They did not find Mbappé and Dembélé and made mistakes that at this stage of the World Cup sentence you. Against Spain’s eternal ball possession, everything that could go wrong, went wrong.
Olise, faltering
Lucas Digne, their great weak point in a lineup full of world stars, made a childish mistake on the penalty on Lamine Yamal that caused Oyarzabal’s goal; Saliba, their best center-back, suffered a muscle injury at half an hour and had to leave the field; Olise, the team’s X factor throughout the tournament and the man capable of connecting a physical midfield and an electric forward line, was irregular and erratic in passes and dribbles, as if out of the game. He had already lost five balls in the first half alone. And at the hour of the match, Deschamps was forced to substitute him. The revelation player of the season in Europe was faltering against an impenetrable Spain that had only conceded one goal in the entire tournament.
France lost possession, as expected, but also lost any chance to hurt in transitions, their theoretical strong point. When they had space, they were unable to give options to Mbappé and Dembélé. The Madrid forward, who has scored four goals in two World Cup finals and scored in the round of 16, round of 8, and quarterfinals, did not shoot on goal until the 64th minute, already with his team two goals down on the scoreboard.
Porro’s goal was a good example of France’s problems in Dallas. Neither Doué nor Koné followed the mark of the Tottenham fullback and he appeared alone in the area to accompany Olmo’s wall pass. Impeccable Spain, disastrous France. Olmo was unmanageable for Tchouaméni. Always around him, but never controlled.
But against Spain, Mbappé, the man who aspired to approach Pelé, was a shadow of the player he had been throughout the tournament. Angry with his teammates, helpless in the area, and desperate, he ended up seeing a yellow card for an ugly elbow on Unai Simón in the last minutes of the match. The Spanish players confronted him and asked for explanations, but he walked away looking at the stands and the video board. He did not even respond to his rivals.
No final reaction
In the 2022 final against Argentina, France had been 2-0 down by the 80th minute and there Mbappé appeared to score a double that caused extra time, but in Dallas there was no miracle.
The frustration was palpable also in the mixed zone after the match ended. One of the most critical of the team’s performance was Ryan Cherki. “We lost against ourselves, not against Spain, against ourselves. It’s that simple,” he said, angry with the press. “What do you want me to tell you, that Lucas was crying in the locker room? It’s football. The disappointment is immense.”
With the exception of Argentina in the 2022 final, Spain has been the great nightmare of France in recent years. The French, who suffered several «olé, olé» in the final stretch, had not been scoreless in 90 minutes of a World Cup knockout match since July 4, 2014, when they lost 1-0 to Germany in the 2014 World Cup quarterfinals. 12 years without failing to score a goal in a knockout and without losing, of course, because they lost to Argentina on penalties.
Mbappé was the first to go greet the French fans and also the first to go to the locker rooms, followed by all his teammates. It will surely be Deschamps’ last match as coach to give way to Zidane and a new stage of a team that in the Eurocup and the World Cup has fallen against the same nemesis.
