{"id":801323,"date":"2026-07-15T06:45:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T06:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/801323\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T06:45:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T06:45:10","slug":"mbappe-blames-technical-tactical-blunders-for-world-cup-semifinal-loss-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/801323\/","title":{"rendered":"Mbappe blames technical, tactical blunders for World Cup semifinal loss | World Cup 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"World<\/a><\/p>\n

France striker admits Spain controlled the game and made them pay for errors in the semifinal in Dallas.<\/p>\n

Published On 15 Jul 202615 Jul 2026<\/p>\n

French captain Kylian Mbappe has rued his team\u2019s tactical and technical errors as Les Bleus missed out on a place in the World Cup final following a 0-2 defeat to Spain<\/a> in Dallas.<\/p>\n

Speaking after the match on Tuesday, Mbappe \u2013 who was aiming for a third straight World Cup final appearance \u2013 revealed his frustration at France\u2019s performance in the game.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we played the match we wanted to play \u2013 whether tactically, technically, or in terms of our overall performance level,\u201d Mbappe told French broadcaster M6.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd when you don\u2019t do what you\u2019re supposed to do in a World Cup semifinal, you don\u2019t win.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal was to press them high up the pitch to prevent them from settling into that slow, controlled rhythm \u2013 because when it comes to controlling the game, they are better than us. We failed to do that,\u201d the Real Madrid star added.<\/p>\n

Mbappe had emerged as one of the stars of the tournament<\/a> during France\u2019s run to the last four, rattling in eight goals at the tip of a free-scoring attack that delighted fans worldwide.<\/p>\n

But the 27-year-old\u2019s dreams of another World Cup final appearance ended abruptly as Spain outplayed Les Bleus at Dallas Stadium in Arlington, Texas.<\/p>\n

\"France'sFrance\u2019s Kylian Mbappe embraces coach Didier Deschamps after the match [Marco Bello\/Reuters]\u2018Immense disappointment\u2019<\/p>\n

Mbappe pinpointed the crux of the problem in midfield, where France\u2019s duo of Adrien Rabiot and Aurelien Tchouameni rapidly found themselves overrun by Spain\u2019s triumvirate of Rodri, Dani Olmo and Fabian Ruiz.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe kept finding ourselves outnumbered 3-on-2 in midfield,\u201d Mbappe said. \u201cAnd against Spain, that\u2019s a real problem\u2026 When you put it all together, the result is a defeat. It\u2019s a huge disappointment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mbappe said France\u2019s crestfallen squad were determined to bounce back after digesting the lessons of the loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a dream for us to reach the final, to give our country the chance to keep dreaming and to make history,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, it is something we have to face with our heads held high. I believe that when you win, you win with your head held high; so when you lose, you have to lose with your head held high, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut right now, there is immense disappointment. I find it hard to put into words just how disappointed the squad and I are.<\/p>\n

\u201cYet, even if it might seem a bit robotic at times, we have to pick ourselves up, go on vacation, and move on to the next chapter. Because football waits for no one. We have to start over, put this failure behind us, and learn from it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"France striker admits Spain controlled the game and made them pay for errors in the semifinal in Dallas.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":801324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,2057,596,2592,2020,588,85,21418,124617],"class_list":["post-801323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-europe","tag-football","tag-france","tag-spain","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-world-cup","tag-world-cup-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=801323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/801324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}