France’s captain Didier Deschamps admitted they weren’t good enough to beat Spain in the FIFA World Cup semifinal at Dallas Stadium on Tuesday. Spain registered a comprehensive 2-0 win to book their final berth as Les Bleus failed to bring their best to the pitch.
France could not complete their passes and lost possession cheaply as they didn’t bring their A-game, both tactically and technically. The 2018 champions and previous edition’s runners-up also could not create meaningful opportunities throughout the match.
The coordination between the players was clearly missing, and Spain was able to capitalise.
Meanwhile, Mikel Oyarzabal scored from a spot kick in the 22nd minute after Lamine Yamal was hit on the body by Lucas Digne. Pedro Porro then continued his rich form as he scored in the 58th minute
“Today [Spain] defended extremely well,” Deschamps said. “They left us very little space. On top of that, because we made technical mistakes, it became difficult to create problems for them. Our technical level was below what we’d shown in previous matches.”
Deschamps admitted they were not on the money with their sequence and passing, whereas Spain was able to intercept with precision.
“Compared with them, in our passing combinations and sequences, they’re also excellent at reading the game and intercepting passes,” Deschamps noted. “We couldn’t find solutions. I don’t want to say that our attacking and technical expression simply disappeared on its own. That’s normally one of our strengths.
“There was also a lot of merit on the opponent’s side. I’m not going to condemn everything we did or erase what we’ve accomplished. But I’ll repeat it: in a match like this, against a team like Spain, you have to be at your absolute maximum. France wasn’t at that level tonight.”
However, Deschamps also questioned referee Iván Arcides Barton Cisnero.
“If I say anything, I’ll look like a sore loser because we lost,” Deschamps said. “But I ask you: is the referee up to the task of officiating a semifinal? There’s the penalty, but that’s not all; it adds to everything else. I have nothing against the referee tonight, but ask yourselves the question.”
Deschamps’ 14-year stint as France’s manager will come to a close with Saturday’s third-place match against the loser of the England-Argentina semifinal.
