Kylian Mbappe saw it for himself on the field: France simply didn\u2019t play well enough to reach a third consecutive World Cup<\/u> final. The France striker will have to settle for a third-place match and the continuing chase for another Golden Boot award in a tight race with Argentina superstar Lionel Messi.<\/p>\n
Mbapp\u00e9, one of the biggest stars of this year’s World Cup and one of the game’s greatest scorers, just couldn’t generate many chances in his team’s 2-0 loss to Spain in the semifinals on Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Because they are better than us at controlling a game. We didn’t manage to do it, Mbapp\u00e9 explained when asked about the loss post-game. “We were too sloppy technically. We could not hurt them when we could have. Even when we recovered the ball, our first touches were not good enough. That gives a defeat.”<\/p>\n
“At the end of the day, you take all the glory when you win,” Mbapp\u00e9 said. “When you don\u2019t win … it\u2019s 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\u2019t go.”<\/p>\n
Mbapp\u00e9 had the fewest touches of any forward in the first half with 15. Perhaps his most prominent moment was trying to persuade referee Ivan Barton that the penalty resulting in Spain’s first goal shouldn’t have been called.<\/p>\n
The foul by Lucas Digne on teenager Lamine Yamal stood, and Mikel Oyarzabal\u2019s penalty kick in the 22nd minute, put Spain ahead for good.<\/p>\n
Mbapp\u00e9’s best chance came in the 67th minute when his shot deflected off Spain defender Marc Cucurella and went just wide. La Roja already had a two-goal lead at that point.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s a team who loves to have control of the game, control of the ball,” Mbapp\u00e9 said. “That\u2019s 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\u2019s difficult when you don\u2019t change the play of Spain. We weren\u2019t at the level to go to the final.”<\/p>\n
The 27-year-old Mbapp\u00e9 was issued a yellow card in the 86th minute when he rushed toward Unai Sim\u00f3n just as the Spain goalkeeper was bending over to pick up the ball. The two collided, sending Sim\u00f3n to the grass.<\/p>\n
Mbapp\u00e9 started the match against Spain after exiting in the 77th minute of his team\u2019s 2-0 quarterfinal win over Morocco, when he scored his eighth goal of the tournament.<\/p>\n
Mbapp\u00e9 also scored eight goals four years ago in Qatar, where France lost to Messi and Argentina in a penalty shootout in the final. France beat Croatia to win the World Cup eight years ago in Russia.<\/p>\n
“They (France) can punish you at every single moment, so I think the focus in every single minute was key in this game,” Spain midfielder Rodri said. “Unbelievable effort by everyone.”<\/p>\n
Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 Goals: Can France’s Star Still Win Golden Boot?<\/p>\n
La Roja Roll On: 4 Takeaways From Spain’s World Cup Semifinal Win Over France<\/p>\n
Why Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 Is On Track To Become The World Cup’s GOAT<\/p>\n
Mbapp\u00e9 was critical of not just his own performance and the lack of execution by the players, but the tactics France went with against Spain. “We were three against two in midfield and against Spain, that’s hard, per GOAL. “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.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, Mbapp\u00e9 also spoke glowingly about the importance of the third-place game on Saturday, manager Didier Deschamp’s last running France. “Nothing changed about what Didier means to us as the French people, as a manager. There is one game left for him and we have to play the best game for him because he deserves it and the fans deserve it, to finish third in this World Cup.”<\/p>\n
That game has personal significance, as well. After going without a score against Spain, Mbapp\u00e9 and Messi have eight goals each so far at this year’s tournament. Mbapp\u00e9, who won the Golden Boot at the last World Cup four years ago in Qatar, holds the first tiebreaker with a 3-2 lead on assists. Messi and defending champion Argentina will play again on Wednesday in the other semifinal match against England, giving Messi a one-game advantage in terms of chances to score again \u2013 the Argentine star was also held without a goal in his previous match.<\/p>\n
Both players will then have one more match before the award is decided. France will play the loser of the other semifinal match in the third-place game on Saturday in Miami Gardens, Florida. Spain will take on the winner in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the final.<\/p>\n
The Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY Kylian Mbappe saw it for himself on the field: France simply didn\u2019t play well enough to reach a third consecutive World Cup final. The France striker will have to settle for a third-place match and the continuing chase for another Golden Boot award in a tight race with Argentina superstar Lionel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}