This was the moment France’s World Cup run stopped looking exhilarating and started looking a little too familiar. Spain beat them in the semifinal, and once the dust settled, the uncomfortable truth was obvious: this was France’s worst World Cup finish since 2014.
For all the earlier fireworks in the tournament, this was the match that stripped away the romance. France conceded a penalty at the end of the first quarter, fell two goals behind, and then spent the rest of the evening trying to recover control they had already surrendered. Kylian Mbappé did what Kylian Mbappé does best, cutting in from the left-hand side to erase the two-goal deficit, but the comeback never became a rescue. Spain stayed in control of the match even with little between the two sides in possession, and that is the part France will hate most.
Mbappé said the quiet part out loud
After the game, Mbappé did not hide behind platitudes. He said France failed tactically, technically and in overall performance level. That is a brutal verdict, but it is hard to argue with. He added that if you do not do what you are supposed to do in a World Cup semi-final, you do not win. Again, fair enough. France also tried to press Spain high to stop them settling into their slow, controlled rhythm, because, as Mbappé admitted, Spain are better than France when it comes to controlling a game. France failed to do that, and the result was a defeat and a huge disappointment.
That honesty matters because this was not a team that had looked short of attacking threat earlier in the tournament. France had produced the kind of high-scoring, front-foot displays that make people start talking themselves into destiny. But this was the other side of the coin: when the opposition can manage tempo, absorb pressure and still impose themselves, the margin for France becomes much smaller. Big reputations do not automatically turn into big performances.
Two twos, a three, and a hard reality
The ratings told their own story. L’Équipe handed out two twos and a three, which is about as ugly as it gets for a semifinal. That is not a bad night by one player or one mistake at the back. That is a collective performance that failed at the levels that matter most. Didier Deschamps also had to deal with a personal loss away from the game, which only adds to the sense that this was a draining and difficult evening for France on every level.
There is still time to soften the blow with the bronze medal game in Miami, but that would be missing the point. Spain are the side heading on to the New York New Jersey Stadium closing ceremony, while France are left with a consolation match and a record that now lands uncomfortably close to the bottom end of what this team expects from itself. In a tournament of title ambitions, Miami is not the destination France wanted.
And that is the real verdict here. France had moments, France had firepower, and France had Mbappé. What they did not have against Spain was enough control, enough discipline or enough overall quality to survive a semifinal. If this is the standard in the biggest match of the campaign, then 2014 is not just a statistic. It is a warning.
