France manager, Didier Deschamps has admitted that his side were below par in their World Cup semi final defeat to Spain last night.
France, one of the pre tournament favourites, simply did not get into any kind of rhythm in their semi final clash, and were beaten 2-0 by Spain, thanks to a goal in each half from Mikel Ozyarzabal (penalty) and Pedro Porro.
This means Spain advance to face the winners of the other semi final between England and Argentina, with France to face the losers of that semi final in a third and fourth place play off.
Speaking at a press conference afterwards, Didier Deschamps who is due to step down as France manager at the end of this tournament after 14 years in charge, admitted that his side were second best in that defeat to Spain.
"Obviously, this Spain team are very strong and they proved it tonight", he said. "We were slightly below our usual level and made more technical mistakes than in previous matches. We were also a step short physically" (quotes according to RTÉ).
Deschamps admitted that his side fell short in a number of key areas in this game.
"We know the quality Spain possess, and to have any chance of going through we needed to be at our absolute best," he said. "We were not".
He went on to praise Spain for their ability to break up French attacks, stopping them from getting into any kind of attacking rhythm, despite France boasting a dangerous frontline, including Ousmane Dembele, Michael Olise and Kylian M'Bappe, who were all kept relatively quite by Spain, with Spanish defender Marc Cucurella deserving particular adulation in this department.
"They are very good at linking their play and reading the direction of passes in order to intercept them," he said.
"We did not find the solutions. The fact that we failed to reproduce the attacking and technical quality we had shown until now is partly our fault, but Spain also deserve credit for preventing us from doing so".
"The disappointment is immense," he said. "This is a group of competitors, and seeing the journey end hurts.
"I do not want to throw away everything we have done, but in this match Spain showed they had something more".
Deschamps did go on to question the standard of refereeing, claiming that several decisions were not open to debate and asked whether referee Ivan Barton was up to that level required to officiate a World Cup semi final.
"The fourth and the fifth official were top level, I chatted with them on the sideline," he said. "But the field referee... I won't say anything but I'm asking you: did he have the level for a World Cup semi-final?".
This defeat means that France were denied the chance to contest their third World Cup final in a row, having won the tournament in Russia in 2018, before losing to Argentina on penalties in Qatar in 2022.
Spain are through to their first World Cup final since 2010, which saw them won the tournament in South Africa. They will also aim to build on their success at Euro 2024, which was them defeat England in that final, a potential opponent at this year's World Cup final.
