ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) 鈥� Kylian Mbapp茅 had France poised for another run to the final with a team that seemingly had the offensive firepower to solve .
Instead, Les Bleus had no answers in a at the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys on Tuesday in what is presumably coach Didier Deschamps’ final appearance on soccer’s biggest stage.
Deschamps, who has said this would be his last World Cup, won a title as a player in 1998 and again as a coach eight years ago in Russia before leading France to the final in 2022 in Qatar. Argentina won that championship in a penalty shootout.
鈥淚鈥檝e been lucky as a player to enjoy happy moments,鈥� Deschamps said through a translator, while also saying it wasn’t yet time to discuss his future. 鈥淭oday is not such a moment. But I think we must accept it without forgetting everything that we鈥檝e experienced so far. But today鈥檚 feeling is that I am not happy.鈥�
The disappointment reverberated from Texas across the Atlantic Ocean. A number of clashes reportedly broke out in Paris, with incidents between law enforcement and young people also reported in Lyon.
French media lamented that their team had been unable to reproduce the exhilarating performances it had delivered while never trailing in its first six World Cup matches.
L鈥櫭塹uipe, France鈥檚 leading sports newspaper, noted that Deschamps鈥� players had been outplayed in every aspect of the game, 鈥渦nable to live up to their dreams and to the hope they had inspired.鈥�
Those players didn’t disagree, although Mbapp茅 was quick to defend his coach, and said he would play hard for Deschamps in the third-place match against the Argentina-England loser on Saturday in Miami Gardens, Florida.
鈥淣othing changed about what Didier means to us as a French people. As a manager, as a player, he wrote an amazing story,鈥� said the France captain, who got a quick hug from his coach on the sideline after the final whistle. 鈥淭here鈥檚 one game left for him, so we鈥檙e going to try to play the best game for him because he deserves it, and also the fans deserve to have a win and finish third in this World Cup.鈥�
The dangerous playmaking of Mbapp茅, Ousmane Dembele and Michael Olise never showed up in what ended up being Spain’s sixth clean sheet in seven World Cup appearances this year.
Mbapp茅’s best chance came in the 67th minute when his shot deflected off Spain defender Marc Cucurella and went just wide. La Roja already had a two-goal lead at that point.
The 27-year-old Mbapp茅, who entered the day level with Argentina superstar Lionel Messi for the tournament lead in goals with eight, showed some frustration with a yellow card in the 86th minute. He rushed toward Unai Sim贸n just as the Spain goalkeeper was bending over to pick up the ball. The two collided, sending Sim贸n to the grass.
鈥淚n so many ways, France was missing everything today,鈥� Rayan Cherki said through a translator. 鈥淲e鈥檒l be back in four years, and we won鈥檛 make the same mistakes.鈥�
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Associated Press writer Samuel Petrequin in Paris contributed to this report.
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