Didier Deschamps admits France fell short after World Cup semifinal defeat to Spain

• Didier Deschamps said France were not technically sharp enough as Spain secured a 2-0 victory to reach the FIFA World Cup final.
• The France coach praised Spain’s defensive organisation and admitted his side failed to perform at the level required in a semifinal.
• Deschamps also questioned the officiating before preparing for his final match as France manager.

Didier Deschamps admitted France failed to reach the technical standards required to compete with Spain after a 2-0 defeat ended their hopes of reaching a third consecutive FIFA World Cup final.

Spain advanced through first-half penalty from Mikel Oyarzabal before Pedro Porro doubled the lead in the second half to complete a deserved victory.

France struggled to create clear opportunities throughout the contest, finishing with only three shots on target despite registering 10 attempts.

“To have any hope, we needed to be at our best,” Deschamps said after the match.

“Unfortunately, we weren’t.”

Spain dominated large periods of the semifinal, controlling possession and winning the majority of individual duels while limiting France’s attacking threat.

Kylian Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé and Michael Olise, who had combined for 13 goals and 10 assists during France’s first six matches of the tournament, were largely contained by Spain’s defence.

Deschamps acknowledged that France’s execution with the ball fell well below their usual standard.

“Today Spain defended extremely well,” he 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.”

The France manager credited Spain for disrupting his side’s attacking rhythm throughout the contest.

“In our passing combinations and sequences, they’re also excellent at reading the game and intercepting passes,” Deschamps said.

“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.”

Deschamps also questioned the performance of referee Iván Arcides Barton Cisneros following several key decisions during the semifinal.

Spain’s opening goal came from the penalty spot after Lucas Digne was penalised for a challenge on Lamine Yamal inside the area.

While stopping short of directly criticising the official, Deschamps suggested the standard of officiating should be examined.

“If I say anything, I’ll look like a sore loser because we lost,” he 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.”

The defeat denied France the opportunity to become only the third nation to reach three consecutive World Cup finals.

Despite the disappointment, Deschamps pointed to the consistency his team has shown by reaching a third successive World Cup semifinal and a fourth consecutive quarterfinal.

“We didn’t control things well enough,” he said.

“The opponent forced us into mistakes.”

“But this was a World Cup semifinal.”

“For two of our players it was their first one.”

“That doesn’t take away anything from what we did well before this.”

“I don’t want to diminish everything that had been accomplished.”

Saturday’s third-place playoff against the loser of the England and Argentina semifinal will mark Deschamps’ final match as France head coach, with Zinedine Zidane expected to succeed him following the tournament.