For a man who led France with such distinction, it was not a Bastille Day to savour. Didier Deschamps led his country for longer than Charles de Gaulle, albeit in rather different roles and with a less bombastic style. But he is football’s most decorated Frenchman on the global stage. On a day seemingly designed for the French, however, his World Cup in effect ended. Spain outclassed France in Dallas.
After 14 years, after this 14 July, his reign only has a third-place play-off to come. There will be no third World Cup for Deschamps as player or manager, no third consecutive final in the dugout. He can retire the dark suit and white shirt he wore even in the 100-degree heat of Philadelphia. He can still figure in the conversations for the best World Cup manager of all, but victory in New York on Sunday could have rendered him the nonpareil.
“It was not important on a personal level if I leave in a semi-final or final,” said Deschamps. In a sense, there was no false modesty; Deschamps has not made it about him, always designing his team around his players, not vice-versa. Yet when he reached the end, it was to a side built around a philosophy, a style of play, an identity. In a sense, Deschamps has seemed the ultimate international manager: because international football can be based around building an environment that players enjoy and decided by moments. Kylian Mbappe can be the best moments player in the world, France the best moments team: but there were no moments against Spain, who suffocated the French forwards and passed with intelligence. They were less reliant on the spectacular.
Until they reached Texas, Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele and Michael Olise had obliged; against Senegal, Iraq, Norway and Sweden, and then in a six-minute burst against Morocco. It illustrated that France possessed attacking talent of the highest quality in greater depth than anyone else. Olise was outstanding in the first four games, when France scored 13 goals; less so in the last three, when they got three. Dembele, after his 2022 World Cup ended so ignominiously, proved there were second acts in Deschamps’ France, with five goals. Mbappe delivered in every match, except against Spain, before pointing the finger elsewhere in the aftermath of this comprehensive loss.
For much of his tenure, Deschamps was deemed a dullard; maybe unfairly, given his sides have scored four and three in World Cup finals. At the last, and even as France barely threatened the Spain goal, he may have perished by being too adventurous. The tournament began with an underlying question if he should bring in a third midfielder, sacrificing whichever of Desire Doue or Bradley Barcola started for more solidity, and with the assumption he would do it at the business end of the competition. If ever there was a time to do it, it was against Spain’s pass masters. But Deschamps stuck with 4-2-3-1 and, too often, Spain manoeuvred their way around France in midfield. Deschamps’ difficulties were exacerbated as he had to take off his best midfielder, Adrien Rabiot, to spare him a red card. Yet maybe this was a game when the pragmatist should have been more pragmatic.
Deschamps could be a loyalist, and perhaps he erred in restoring the fit-again Aurelien Tchouameni in place of Manu Kone, who had excelled in his absence. Another of his selection dilemmas was vindicated; until, suddenly, it was not. Lucas Digne conceded the crucial penalty against Spain, caught unawares by Lamine Yamal. He had been chosen ahead of the Hernandez brothers – Lucas was the left-back in 2018, Theo in 2022 – and maybe each was better suited to facing Yamal.
Over 14 years, though, Deschamps got more of those calls right than wrong. Some of his players, including Rabiot and arguably even Mbappe, have delivered more for country than club. He has benefited from the French flow of quality, but often used it adeptly.
He has been a great achiever, but may leave with the question if he underachieved, even if it is one that should not be posed of World Cup winners. He had seven major tournaments and won one; Luis de la Fuente may instead win two out of two.
Yet in getting to three finals and five semi-finals, there was a body of work. Of the six times France were eliminated, on four – in 2014, 2016, 2022 and 2024 – it was by the eventual champions, and Spain may make that five.
France have taken some stopping. They have been arguably the best team in each of the last two World Cups, until a final and a semi-final when they weren’t, and when it cost them a historic hat-trick. Deschamps bowed out satisfied with his eventual return, even if it could have been greater, with Zinedine Zidane tipped to succeed him in the dugout.
“I am extremely happy and very proud of everything we have done with the national team,” Deschamps said. “To have won a World Cup in 2018 and to reach the final in Qatar and to take the French national team to the highest levels.”
It was a measured response from a man who rarely overreacted. He greeted the final whistle by hugging De la Fuente and then Mbappe, each expressionless as a dream died; albeit a dream each had already lived. Perhaps more than any current manager, Deschamps has defined the recent era of international football. But this ends now, with a Bastille Day to mourn, as Deschamps became the ancien regime, perhaps with a revolution to come in French football.
