France’s Struggle in World Cup Semifinals

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Kylian Mbappé witnessed France’s inability to perform at the level needed to reach another World Cup final. The French striker now faces a third-place match and continues chasing the Golden Boot, competing with Argentina’s Lionel Messi. Despite Mbappé’s status as one of the World Cup’s biggest stars and best scorers, he couldn’t create many opportunities in the team’s 2-0 loss to Spain in the semifinals.

Both Mbappé and Messi have scored eight goals during the tournament. Mbappé holds an advantage in assists, leading 3-2. Messi and Argentina, the defending champions, are set to play against England in the other semifinal. France will face the loser of that match for third place on Saturday in Miami Gardens, Florida, while Spain will play the winner in East Rutherford, New Jersey, for the final.

Mbappé stated, “At the end of the day, you take all the glory when you win. When you don’t win … it’s part of the game. As the captain, I have to take all the responsibility, and I have no problem with that. We wanted to go to the final. We didn’t go.”

During the first half, Mbappé had the fewest touches among forwards, with only 15. His most notable moment was contesting the penalty in Spain’s first goal, where Lucas Digne fouled Lamine Yamal, leading to Mikel Oyarzabal’s successful penalty kick. Mbappé saw the best opportunity in the 67th minute, but his shot deflected off Spain defender Marc Cucurella and went wide, while Spain was already leading by two goals.

Mbappé spoke on Spain’s gameplay, “It’s a team who loves to have control of the game, control of the ball. That’s what we let them do. We let the midfield too much time to play, and at the end of the day they had quality to play. It’s difficult when you don’t change the play of Spain. We weren’t at the level to go to the final.”

The 27-year-old received a yellow card in the 86th minute after a collision with Spain goalkeeper Unai Simón. In the previous match against Morocco, he scored his eighth goal before exiting in the 77th minute. France had lost the last World Cup to Argentina in a final penalty shootout after Mbappé also scored eight goals in Qatar, while winning the World Cup in Russia against Croatia eight years ago.

Spain midfielder Rodri noted, “They (France) can punish you at every single moment, so I think the focus in every single minute was key in this game. Unbelievable effort by everyone.”