After the semi-final, midfielder Ryan Cherki looked directly at the issue that many French fans are avoiding, which is that Les Bleus are no longer themselves against arch-rival Spain. According to the Man City star, the French team has lost more to themselves than being defeated by opponents. From technique, tactics to tackles, Les Bleus seem much weaker than La Roja.
It is not the first time France has lost to Spain under coach Didier Deschamps. In the EURO 2024 and Nations League 2025 semi-finals, they also failed, but this time is the most unacceptable. Possessing the strongest attack in the tournament, but the "Roosters" closed the semi-finals with an expected goal score of only 0.3, the lowest since 1966 in their World Cup appearances.
The question Deschamps received most after the semi-final was whether the 4-striker tactic was really suitable? This is the formula that helped France destroy all previous opponents on the way to the semi-finals but could not be effective even once against Spain. The "worker" midfield pair below the 4 strikers could not create connection, could not hold the ball or create breakthrough passes.
Right from the beginning, we used 3 people to press back against 2 people on their side, that was a mistake. When playing against Spain, France should have used a one-on-one strategy when pressing" - Mbappe shared after the match.
The person who launched the most dangerous shot on the French side was Kylian Mbappe. On a lackluster day, Ousmane Dembele tried to finish but could not beat Unai Simon. Bradley Barcola started from the beginning and could not create penetrations. The person most expected for the breakthrough was Michael Olise who was "revalued" by the Spanish defenders. The Bayern Munich star was so deadlocked that he was substituted when the match was 18 minutes left.
Looking back at the 2022 World Cup final, when France was led 2-0 by Argentina and then equalized, the most regrettable thing in the match early this morning was that the resilient spirit was no longer shown by the blue-shirted stars. In the final minutes of the match, Spain was still as solid as a rock, with no loophole for the opponent to light up hope. In the stands, the cheers of "Ole, Ole" of La Roja fans were even more like rubbing salt into the spiritual wounds of the French national team stars.
No one thought this scenario would happen when France was considered the number 1 championship candidate before the semi-finals. Some opinions suggest that Les Bleus were subjective against Spain. Deschamps is very cautious, but it seems that he did not prepare enough options and was too confident in the winning formula from the beginning of the tournament. France does not underestimate Spain when they have continuously lost to this opponent in recent major tournaments. However, perhaps they were too confident in the winning formula they possessed and did not have time to have changes.
Bad news for France after the semi-final is that they will say goodbye to captain Didider Deschamps after 14 years of attachment with many successes.
After that, Zinedine Zidane will almost certainly be the one to take over the hot seat heading into Nations League 2027 and EURO 2028.
As for good news, French fans can rest assured that most of the players participating in the 2026 World Cup are still strong enough to compete at the 2030 World Cup. To see if Les Bleus will once again reach the final in the next 4 years?
