July 14, French National Day. Emmenez-moi by Charles Aznavour playing on the screens, Kylian Mbappé smiling as he took the field in his third World Cup semifinal on his way to a 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 AT&T Stadium pitch before warm-up. The tribute for the ten years since the tragic attack in Nice... All the emotional details of the match were pushing in France's favor, but Spain, this Spain under Luis de la Fuente, is now the great nightmare of this French generation.
"It's a great disappointment," Mbappé admitted on TV, his only stop in front of the media. "Fabián and Rodri had a lot of time to play. There was a lack of communication regarding pressure. I think we should have played one-on-one, making them run with us. And when we recovered the ball, our first touches were not up to a World Cup semifinal. We didn't do everything possible to reach the final," he reflected.
In the press room, Deschamps, incomprehensibly, complained about the referee: "We must be realistic and acknowledge that today we were a step below the technical level against a team that knew what they were doing. The blame is mainly ours, but I have a question, and I'm not going to answer it: Is the referee good enough to officiate a World Cup semifinal? And I'm not saying this because we lost, but there were certain situations... Often unfavorable for us," he pointed out.
Two years after falling in the Euro semifinals, in that match that put Lamine Yamal in the global media spotlight, France once again kneeled before Spain. Impotent. Desperate. Three consecutive years in three different competitions, always in semifinals: Euro (2-1), Nations League (5-4), and World Cup (2-0).
"Take me to the ends of the earth, to the wonderland," sings Aznavour and the French crowd has sung in the song that has gone viral among their fans during this World Cup. The wonderland was the galaxy formed by Mbappé, Dembélé, Olise, and company, unstoppable throughout the tournament until noon in Dallas.
France had scored 16 goals, six wins in six games, no extra time, over 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 remained at zero on all levels. They couldn't find Mbappé and Dembélé and made mistakes that at this stage of the World Cup are fatal. Against Spain's eternal ball possession, everything that could go wrong, went wrong for them.
Lucas Digne, their major weak point in a lineup full of world-class stars, made a childish mistake with a penalty on Lamine Yamal that led to Oyarzabal's goal; Saliba, their best center-back, suffered a muscle injury after 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 with an electric forward line, was inconsistent and erratic in passes and dribbles, out of sync with the game. In the first half alone, he had already lost five balls. And by the hour mark, Deschamps was forced to substitute him. The revelation of the season in Europe was struggling against an impenetrable Spain that had only conceded one goal in the entire tournament.
France lost possession, as expected, but also lost any chance of causing damage in transitions, their supposed strong point. When they had space, they were unable to provide options to Mbappé and Dembélé. The Real Madrid forward, who had scored four goals in two World Cup finals and netted in the round of 16, quarterfinals, and semifinals, did not have a shot on goal until the 64th minute, with his team already two goals down.
Porro's goal was a clear example of France's problems in Dallas. Neither Doué nor Koné followed Tottenham's full-back, who appeared alone in the box to finish Olmo's pass. Impeccable Spain, disastrous France. Olmo was uncontrollable for Tchouaméni. Always around him, but never contained.
But against Spain, Mbappé, the man aiming to approach Pelé, was a shadow of the player he had been throughout the tournament. Angry with his teammates, powerless in the box, and desperate, he ended up receiving a yellow card for an ugly elbow on Unai Simón in the final minutes of the match. The Spanish players confronted him and asked for explanations, but he walked away looking at the stands and the scoreboard. He didn't even respond to his rivals.
In the 2022 final against Argentina, France had been 2-0 down by the 80th minute and that's when Mbappé had scored a brace to force extra time, but in Dallas, there was no miracle.
The frustration was also evident in the mixed zone after the match. One of the most critical of the team's performance was Ryan Cherki. "We lost against ourselves, not against Spain, against ourselves. It's as simple as that," he said, upset with the press. "What do you want me to say, 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 France's great nightmare in recent years. The French, who endured several "olé, olé" chants towards the end, had not failed to score in the 90 minutes of a World Cup knockout match since July 4, 2014, when they fell 1-0 to Germany in the 2014 World Cup quarterfinals. 12 years without failing to score in a knockout match and without losing, of course, because they lost on penalties to Argentina.
Mbappé was the first to greet the French fans and also the first to head to the dressing rooms, followed by all his teammates. It will likely be Deschamps' last match as coach, making way for Zidane and a new era for a team that has fallen to the same nemesis in the Euro and the World Cup.