WORLD CUP 2026 THREAD

[goblin]

You should see the reactions in the French media, L'Equipe wrote it the way I would have if I knew anything about soccer. A thorough analysis with no drama and no mercy, minutes after it all ended.

"A team that didn't see much real challengers till now, overwhelmed in all areas, went through the game without really playing it"

 

[goblin]

K, now that I'm on a proper keyboard - easiest would be to just translate the beginning of L'Equipe's analysis. These guys have been in business for 130-ish years, and have never been known for pulling punches:

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Dazed and brought down from their cloud, Les Bleus failed to rise to the occasion they had been anticipating for four years.
On Tuesday, they suffered a heavy defeat (0–2) in a semi-final they never truly contested; outclassed by Spain in every single aspect, they were unable to live up to their dreams or the hopes they had inspired. The Deschamps era will conclude on Saturday in Miami with a sad third-place play-off.

This journey deserved better than such a shipwreck - in terms of gameplay, strategy, and emotions - and far better than this semi-final (0–2), which they spent trembling at first, then losing without grounds for complaining, left with the feeling that they had barely played the match and had betrayed the magic of an American summer.

Spain once again played the role of executioner to secure a spot in their second World Cup final - following their 2010 triumph, displaying the abrasive intelligence of a team that, on this Tuesday evening, knew how to defend even better than it attacked, cutting off every pass and every connection.

Les Bleus could at least have avoided making their job so easy.
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As for Didier Deschamps (the coach), it boils down to "We sucked, we were unlucky, but also the referee was not World Cup level". BUT OF COURSE

Me think with the referee of England-Mexico or Argentina-Switzerland, France would have raked a couple of red cards in the first 20 minutes.

 

[Owen Lucas]

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