ARLINGTON, Texas — Kylian Mbappé had France poised for another run to the World Cup final with a team that seemingly had the offensive firepower to solve Spain’s stout defense.Instead, Les Bleus had no answers in a 2-0 semifinal loss at the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys on Tuesday in what is presumably coach Didier Deschamps’ final appearance on soccer’s biggest stage.Deschamps, who has said this would be his last World Cup, won a title as a player in 1998 and again as a coach eight years ago in Russia before leading France to the final in 2022 in Qatar. Argentina won that championship in a penalty shootout.“I’ve been lucky as a player to enjoy happy moments,” Deschamps said through a translator, while also saying it wasn’t yet time to discuss his future. “Today is not such a moment. But I think we must accept it without forgetting everything that we’ve experienced so far. But today’s feeling is that I am not happy.”The disappointment reverberated from Texas across the Atlantic Ocean. A number of clashes reportedly broke out in Paris, with incidents between law enforcement and young people also reported in Lyon. French media lamented that their team had been unable to reproduce the exhilarating performances it had delivered while never trailing in its first six World Cup matches.L’Équipe, France’s leading sports newspaper, noted that Deschamps’ players had been outplayed in every aspect of the game, “unable to live up to their dreams and to the hope they had inspired.”Those players didn’t disagree, although M …
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