$800 million reduced to ashes
Despite an attack brimming with firepower, Didier Deschamps’ France could not find a way through a superb Spain side.
Rarely will you see a national team stockpile this much talent and still fail to get anything close to maximum value out of it the way Didier Deschamps’ France did on Tuesday, when Spain knocked Les Bleus out in a historic clash in Dallas. Now set to leave his post, with Zinedine Zidane reportedly waiting in the wings, Deschamps tried everything. And there was no shortage of firepower at his disposal.
According to market valuations from Transfermarkt, the six forwards Deschamps used in the match carried a combined value of over $800 million. Four of them rank among the world’s 15 most valuable players. Leading the way is Kylian Mbappé ($205 million), followed by Michael Olise ($175 million), Désiré Doué ($140 million) and Ousmane Dembélé ($117 million). Rayan Cherki ($105 million) and Bradley Barcola ($82 million) are not far behind.
Far from adopting a system similar to the one Luis Enrique used to turn Paris Saint-Germain into serial winners through a 4-3-3 built around midfielders such as Vitinha, Fabián Ruiz, João Neves and Warren Zaïre-Emery, Deschamps once again looked more like a selector than a tactician. To be fair, he had an arsenal capable of blowing apart almost any opponent. He started with Ballon d’Or winner Dembélé, one of the standout performers of the tournament to that point in Mbappé, this season’s Champions League breakout star Olise, and the lightning-quick Barcola tasked with testing Pedro Porro. When it became clear things were not working, he rolled the dice with the extraordinary talent of Doué and Cherki.
De la Fuente does a job on Deschamps
Deschamps and France, however, ran headlong into a masterclass game plan that reduced all that attacking quality to rubble. Without the ball, Spain’s commitment to defensive support against France’s stars was absolute. Porro completely neutralized Barcola. Marc Cucurella constantly received help from Álex Baena in dealing with Dembélé and Olise as the pair rotated positions. Mbappé became little more than a spectator against the combined efforts of Pau Cubarsí and Aymeric Laporte, who were themselves backed up by Rodri and Fabián Ruiz. The four-man unit wrapped Mbappé in a web he simply could not escape. And it was not just them. Dani Olmo, Mikel Oyarzabal and Lamine Yamal all played key roles in a defensive structure that was close to flawless. The one opening France did find, through early combinations between Adrien Rabiot and Olise down the middle, was quickly corrected after the first stoppage in play, forcing France to funnel attacks through Lucas Digne on the left.
Deschamps turned to two fearless, immensely gifted attackers in Cherki and Doué. Players capable of operating on a different level, yet even they were brought back down to earth. Spain did not just run hard without the ball; they made France run when Spain had possession. That was the decisive difference in the game. While Spain had meticulously prepared for life without the ball, France looked lost whenever it did not have it. There was very little left to debate. With the white pieces on the board, victory belonged to Luis de la Fuente.
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