Kylian Mbappe reveals the big mistake France made in ‘sloppy’ World Cup semi-final defeat to Spain

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The Independent

15 July 2026

France

captain

Kylian Mbappe

believes his side made a tactical error with their selection after failing to fire in their

World Cup

semi-final against

Spain

The European champions progressed to the showpiece decider with a strong 2-0 win in Dallas,

shutting down France’s forward line

and controlling much of the game.

Mbappe and the rest of the French attack had been in outstanding form at the tournament, with their skipper still in the mix for the golden boot, but

Didier Deschamps

’ side lacked fluency and composure in the semi-final.

Spain were particularly dominant in midfield, where

Aurelien Tchouameni

and

Adrien Rabiot

were outnumbered and outplayed by

Rodri

, Fabian Ruiz and Dani Olmo.

And Mbappe felt it was a mistake from Deschamps not to add an extra body in that area for the game.

“We were three against two in midfield and against

, that's hard," Mbappe admitted after the game. "Fabian [Ruiz] and Rodri had plenty of time to play. There was a lack of communication on the press. I think we should have done man-to-man press and force them to run with us.

"We didn't play the game we wanted, technically, tactically. When you don't do what you have to do in a

semifinal, you don't win.

respected their game plan and what the team usually does. They like to control the ball and the tempo. Our plan was to press them high so they could not install their rhythm.

"Because they are better than us at controlling a game. We didn't manage to do it. We were too sloppy technically. We could not hurt them when we could have."

France only really threatened late on after

had already gone two ahead as Pedro Porro

added to Mikel Oyarzabal’s penalty.

The third-place play-off will mark the end of Deschamps’ time in charge, with Zinedine Zidane expected to succeed the 2018 World Cup-winning manager.

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