Soccer
Didier Deschamps says France are “devastated” not to be in the World Cup final, but acknowledged it was their own fault for an “inferior” performance.
France suffered a 2-0 defeat to Spain in Tuesday’s semi-final, with Mikel Oyarzabal and Pedro Porro getting the goals for the European champions.
Les Bleus struggled to click in attack, and instead of playing in a third straight final this weekend, they will instead be playing in the third-place play-off.
Excluding penalties, this was just France’s second defeat in a World Cup knockout-stage match across their last 23, along with a 1-0 loss to Germany in 2014 in the quarter-finals.
France finished the match with just 10 shots (three on target) worth 0.3 expected goals (xG), while Spain scored with both of their attempts on target (10 overall).
And Deschamps, who, as manager of France, has lost more games against Spain than any other nation (five), admitted his side were to blame for their exit.
“The players are devastated, but we have to be logical; we were technically inferior,” he told the media.
“It’s our fault. There were quite a few situations… But the primary reason is that we were simply below par, with some technical errors, passes that could have led to chances. This is the very highest level, even if it hurts.
“We’re going to play the third-place match. I don’t want to dismiss everything that’s been done, but in this match, Spain showed something extra.
On gagne ensemble, on perd ensemble
Les Bleus auront une dernière bataille à livrer pour terminer ce Mondial sur le podium.
RDV samedi à 23h pour le match de la 3e place pic.twitter.com/8HSSxr3BOc
— Equipe de France (@equipedefrance) July 14, 2026
“I’m not thinking about myself, I prepared for the match with the players and the goal of doing everything to go all the way.
“We didn’t succeed; the disappointment is strong. But I don’t take away from all the good things we did. I thought we had recovered very well… I don’t take anything away from the Spanish team, who controlled the game.
“We lacked technical precision and energy. The Spanish are very good at breaking up attacks with anticipation and passes. We would have liked to create more problems for them offensively.”
France have failed to record a first-half shot on target in three of their seven World Cup games (vs Spain, Paraguay and Senegal).
It had only happened in four of their prior 59 games in the competition on record (since 1966).
France have also never won a World Cup game when they have trailed at half-time (D1 L12), and Rayan Cherki noted they could have managed the occasion better.
“I don’t know what to tell you, they were better in every aspect of the game,” he told BeIN Sports.
“They wanted it more than we did. I’m convinced we’re a better team, but they were better than us [in the semi-final]. They didn’t put on a crazy amount of pressure; it wasn’t a full-court press, there was time to play.
“Maybe we didn’t manage our emotions well. I think right now, we need to process it. It’s very hard because when you see the passion around us and all the people gathered behind the flag, it’s heartbreaking.”
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