​What went wrong for France vs. Spain? Deschamps disasterclass, French arrogance end World Cup title chase originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.Ahead of the semifinals, France had been by far the most impressive title contender at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementBy the end of the 90 minutes against Spain, however, Les Bleus had been consigned to the third-place match as they suffered a 2-0 defeat to their European nemesis, who have now beaten them in three straight games.So what went wrong for France, and how did Spain stop the world’s most formidable attack?The Sporting News explains how it all fell apart for France at the penultimate hurdle and why they only have their own arrogance to blame for theirMORE:Player ratings for all players in France vs. Spain at the World Cup semifinalsIt seemed obvious to all involved ahead of the World Cup semifinal that France would need to adjust to deal with Spain’s possessional dominance and midfield superiority. And yet, they just…didn’t. The arrogance of Didier Deschamps to think they could simply play their style against such a formidable opponent without any kind of adjustment was their undoing.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementFor such a decorated and brilliant manager, it’s almost hard to believe how wrong Didier Deschamps got it today. Before the game, we speculated in our tactical preview that Deschamps may add an extra midfielder, sacrificing one of his four attackers up front, helping to mitigate Spain’s midfield dominance.Instead, Deschamps did nothing, and Spain took complete control of the match in the middle of the pitch. France were outnumbered 4v2 in midfield, as Spain dominated the match with three midfielders plus false nine Mikel Oyarzabal, who repeatedly tracked back into midfield to assist.It was clear as far back as a year ago that four attackers against Spain would not work, as they would be overwhelmed in midfield. In that game, a swashbuckling 5-4 victory for Spain, La Roja advanced forward and took risks with their possession. Today, and throughout this World Cup, Luis de la Fuente has dialled Spain’s attack back, using the Oyarzabal false nine to control games and trusting his players to fill the gap vacated by not having a traditional striker. In both cases, however, France were short in the middle of the pitch.As the game went on, it became increasingly obvious that France needed help in midfield, but Deschamps repeatedly stuck with his failing tactics. At halftime, Deschamps replaced Adrien Rabiot, who was on a yellow card, instead of risking him in a situation that needed risks to be taken. Then, with 18 minutes to go, Deschamps again made a like-for-like change, taking off the bright Michael Olise to bring on Rayan Cherki instead of sacrificing a winger to give them more midfield help.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement”It was difficult for us, because tactically we had a