Kylian Mbappé didn’t hold back. After France got knocked out of the World Cup semifinals by Spain in a flat 2-0 loss, the captain went public with his frustration. He said the team’s pressing scheme was broken from the start — a mismatched three-against-two setup instead of a simple one-for-one. He admitted France didn’t deserve to be in the semifinal. Spain stuck to their plan. France didn’t.
That loss ended more than just a tournament run. It ended Didier Deschamps’ time as head coach.
Zidane’s waiting game is over
According to transfer insider Fabrizio Romano, the French Football Federation plans to finalize a contract with Zinedine Zidane immediately after the World Cup. Deschamps will coach one more match — the third-place playoff — and then step aside. Zidane, per Romano, hasn’t entertained any other job offers in the last eight months. He wanted only France. He waited. Now he gets it.
The timing makes sense. Deschamps delivered a World Cup title in 2018 and a runner-up finish in 2022, but this team looked dysfunctional against Spain. The talent is still there. The system isn’t. That’s where Zidane comes in.
Cherki didn’t sugarcoat it either
Midfielder Rayan Cherki, who came off the bench late trying to spark something, told Fox Sports’ Jenny Taft after the game that France was missing “everything.” Not a tactical thing. Not a personnel thing. Everything. He promised the group would learn from it and come back stronger in four years, but he also gave credit where it was due. Spain was the better team. They exposed every inefficiency France had.
Cherki plays for Manchester City. He’s used to winning. This one stung differently.
What Zidane changes
Zidane won three Champions League titles with Real Madrid. He knows how to manage big personalities. He also knows how to build a coherent attacking structure, which was arguably France’s biggest problem in this tournament. Too much relied on individual brilliance. Too little came from actual design.
Mbappé’s public criticism of Deschamps was rare — French captains don’t usually air that out postgame. But it signaled something the federation clearly picked up on. The players wanted a different direction. Zidane is that direction.
The third-place game is now a formality. The real work starts after that, when Zidane signs the papers and takes over a team that just learned how fast things can fall apart.
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