Mbappé Slams France Tactics in 2-0 Loss to Spain
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- France lost 2-0 to Spain in the FIFA World Cup semifinal in Arlington, Texas, ending their quest to reach a third consecutive World Cup final.
- Mbappé openly questioned Deschamps' approach, saying France should have deployed man-to-man pressing and acknowledging the team was "too sloppy technically" against Spain's midfield.
- Mbappé finished the tournament with eight goals, tied with Argentina's Lionel Messi for the Golden Boot lead, but was held scoreless in the semifinal — the same total he scored four years ago in Qatar.
- Spain took control after Mikel Oyarzabal converted a penalty following Lucas Digne's foul on Lamine Yamal, with Rodri and Fabián Ruiz dominating the midfield throughout.
- Mbappé received a yellow card in the 86th minute after colliding with Spain goalkeeper Unai Simón, then took responsibility as captain: "We wanted to go to the final. We didn't go."
- Ryan Cherki, brought on as a substitute, said France was "missing everything" and that Spain was "better than us in every part of the game and they were hungrier than us."
- France will face the loser of Wednesday's Argentina-England semifinal in the third-place game on Saturday in Miami Gardens, Florida.
Why it matters: Mbappé's public second-guessing of Deschamps' tactics from the captain's chair is a rare and pointed critique of France's longest-serving and most successful manager. Spain has now beaten France three times in a row, and the semifinal loss exposed a gap between France's individual talent — Mbappé's Golden Boot-leading eight goals — and their tactical execution against elite opposition, setting up awkward questions ahead of the third-place match and the 2026 cycle.
