France arrived in the World Cup semifinals billed as the most exciting attacking force to grace the tournament since Brazil’s fabled 1982 side.
But Kylian Mbappe and his teammates discovered the hard way that dazzling football is no guarantee of survival.
France’s bright, attacking campaign came to a flat end with a painful 2-0 defeat.
Between them, Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele, Michael Olise, Bradley Barcola and Desire Doue had helped France score 16 goals in six matches on their way to Tuesday’s semifinal.
But in a comprehensive Spanish masterclass at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, it took France’s much-vaunted attacking arsenal more than 75 minutes to register a shot on target.
By then, Spain were on cruise control, leading 2-0 as Les Bleus wrestled with the realisation that an arsenal is only as potent as its ammunition.
With the supply lines from midfield cut off by Spain’s talented trio of Rodri, Dani Olmo and Fabian Ruiz, France were left firing blanks.
Didier Deschamps, meanwhile, will leave his role as France manager, reflecting on a bitterly disappointing end to a campaign that for five weeks had seemed destined to conclude in crowning glory.
It will also raise questions over how Deschamps failed to devise a tactical game plan to counter Spain’s renowned passing game.
Mbappe was left to reflect on a campaign cut short. Victory on Tuesday would have made the 27-year-old only the second player in history, after Brazil’s Cafu in 1994, 1998 and 2002, to play in three World Cup finals.
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Instead, the Real Madrid forward will head to Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium with France for the dreaded third-place playoff on Saturday.
Yet Mbappe struck a defiant tone as France exited the tournament, insisting that a squad brimming with talent has the resources to rise again, with the 2028 European Championship on the horizon.
Al Jazeera – Breaking News, World News and Video from Al Jazeera wp:paragraph
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