France’s World Cup title challenge ended on Tuesday, July 14, as Spain produced a composed performance to reach the final with a 2-0 victory.
Mikel Oyarzabal opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 22nd minute after Lucas Digne fouled Lamine Yamal. Pedro Porro then doubled Spain’s lead shortly before the hour mark, completing a sharp exchange with Dani Olmo.
According to L’Équipe’s match report, France were overwhelmed in several areas of the pitch and rarely appeared capable of disrupting Spain’s control.
The defeat ended France’s attempt to reach a third consecutive World Cup final. Didier Deschamps’ side will instead contest the third-place play-off.
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Saliba injury adds to France’s problems
France suffered another setback after approximately half an hour when William Saliba was forced to leave the pitch with an injury.
Maxence Lacroix replaced the Arsenal defender and played the remainder of the match. Speaking to M6 after the final whistle, Lacroix admitted that France had expected more from a squad containing some of the tournament’s leading players.
“There is a lot of disappointment. We were close to our objective, we played against a very good Spain team and we tried to give everything,” Lacroix said, as quoted by L’Équipe.
“Things did not go the way we wanted today, but we can still leave with our heads held high because of what we showed throughout this journey.
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“I would not go so far as to call it a waste, but it is true that, with our potential and our players, we imagined going further. We want to keep the positives from this great journey, but it is once again quite difficult to respond in the heat of the moment after losing a World Cup semi-final.”
Spain take control in midfield
Former France international Bixente Lizarazu delivered an equally blunt assessment of the performance.
“We were crushed in midfield,” Lizarazu said, as quoted by L’Équipe.
Spain’s Rodri and Fabián Ruiz controlled the central areas, limiting France’s ability to move the ball towards Kylian Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé and Michael Olise.
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France improved after the interval and began creating more opportunities once they were two goals behind. However, Spain’s defensive organisation remained intact, leaving Deschamps’ players with little more than a late attempt to rescue a match their opponents had controlled for long periods.
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