Kylian Mbappé Delivers Honest Verdict On France's World Cup Loss to Spain

France lost the 2026 World Cup semifinal to Spain after losing 2-0 at Dallas Stadium. It was the first game in which they did not score a goal in the competition this summer.

This is the first time in Kylian Mbappé's career that he has not reached the World Cup final with France after reaching two consecutive World Cup finals.

Mbappé struggled against Spain, taking three off-target shots and finishing with no shots on target.

Mbappé and France cannot win the 2026 World Cup but will play in the third-place playoff on Saturday against the loser of the England vs. Argentina semifinal match.

After the match against Spain, Mbappé gave his thoughts on the team's performance, which was easily the worst of the competition.

Kylian Mbappé on France Out of the 2026 World Cup

Kylian Mbappé gave his first thoughts on the semifinal match against Spain. Ahead of this matchup, France was the favorite after six straight wins in the 2026 World Cup.

When asked about being eliminated from the 2026 World Cup, Mbappé said, "I think we didn't play our game, neither technically nor tactically. When you don't do what you're supposed to do in a World Cup semifinal, you don't win. Spain stayed true to their game plan."

Mbappé went into more detail about the pressing of his team and was heavily critical of the team's performance.

Mbappé said, "Right from the start, we were pressing 3 against 2. We messed up there. Against Spain, we need to press 1 for 1. And even when we recovered the ball. Our ball touches, and our movements were not worthy of a World Cup semifinal. We did not have what it takes to go to the World Cup final, to be honest."

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This story was originally published July 14, 2026 at 3:12 PM.