Staff Reporter
The long wait for France to become European Champions for the first time since 2000 will last for another four years after their Euro 2024 bid for glory was brought to an abrupt end in the semifinals by Spain.
Falling to a 2-1 defeat, the loss to a thrilling and buccaneering Spanish side rounded off a fairly miserable end to a tournament where this talented French side has failed to fire.
Billed by online sports betting sites at the start of the tournament as favourites, France’s failure to reach the final will have wide ranging ramifications and the inquest is likely to be deep and long.
With the French team currently making their way back to Paris, here are some of the main talking points that look set to dominate the headlines.
With the stage set, Mbappe fails to light up the Euros
As Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi start to wind down their long and illustrious careers, most of the football world believe that Kylian Mbappe is the heir apparent to their throne and heading into this tournament he was widely believed to be the favourite to lift the Ballon d’or.
With Mbappe set to lead the way in France’s bid for a first European title since 2020, his campaign never got off the ground.
Suffering a broken nose in France’s opening fixture victory over Austria, Mbappe struggled to make any impact in future games.
Only managing to find the back of the net once, which came via the penalty spot in France’s disappointing 1-1 draw with Poland, when France needed Mbappe needed to deliver with the pressure at its highest, for once their talisman went missing.
During France’s run to the World Cup title in 2018 and their run to the final in 2022, Mbappe looked like a player who thrived on the game’s biggest stages.
With France boasting a hugely talented squad, Mbappe is the jewel in the crown but for once he found the lights too bright and he exits the tournament with a huge sense of disappointment.
Time is very much on his side and there are no doubts that in future major tournaments, Mbappe will be the man to lead France to further glories, but when he isn’t at his best, France needs to find another way to get over the line.
After twelve years is now the time for Didier Deschamps to move on?
Twelve years at the helm of an international football team is an incredibly long time and is rarely seen in the game these days.
During that time Didier Deschamps has turned France into a winning machine. A World Cup winner as both a player and a manager, Deschamps’s legacy as a French all time great is already secured, but never before has his continuation in the job looked so in doubt.
Contracted to the French Football Federation until the end of the 2026 World Cup, Deschamps has come under immense criticism for how he has got this hugely talented French team playing.
Although throughout most of the tournament the French were resolute at the back, they lacked a cutting edge up front and departed Germany having scored just once from open play.
With an attacking line that boasts the talents of Antoine Griezmann, Ousmane Dembele, Kingsley Coman, Randal Kolo-Muani, Olivier Giroud and of course Kylian Mbappe, France’s overly defensive set up was a mystery throughout the tournament.
Deschamp’s reluctance to play front-foot attacking football isn’t anything new but he has usually had the results to back it up. However, with France crashing out at the semi-finals and with Zinedine Zidane waiting in the wings, now could be the time when Deschamps decides to call it a day.
A change is coming
By the time the 2026 World Cup rolls around there is a huge chance that this current French team will have a very different look about it.
Olivier Giroud, who has for years led the French line with aplomb and has become his country’s all time leading scorer is likely to be retired by the time 2026 rolls around.
There are also questions about the future of Antoine Griezmann. Long France’s creator in chief, through much of Euro 2024, Griezmann has looked a shadow of his former self and now at 33, his place in the number ten role looks in major jeopardy.
The one positive thing about French football is that the production line of young exciting players is almost never ending and there is a hugely talented core in the current team who should be at their peaks by the time 2026 rolls around.
There is so much for French football fans to look forward too, so although this defeat to Spain will hurt, the future still looks exceptionally bright and France will certainly be back.
