France's World Cup dream is over after a limp 2-0 defeat to Spain in the semi-final in Dallas, and the French press wasted no time delivering a withering verdict on Didier Deschamps' side.

L'Equipe's brutal verdicts

L'Equipe led their coverage with a photograph of a dejected Kylian Mbappe beneath the headline "Fallen star," declaring the team "powerless" against Spain. Their player ratings were equally unforgiving — not a single France player earned above 5/10.

Lucas Digne bore the harshest judgement, receiving 2/10 after conceding the penalty that opened the scoring. Ousmane Dembele and Michael Olise were handed the same score for their anonymous performances in attack. Mbappe himself was awarded just 3/10 — as was Deschamps, who will take charge of his final game as France manager in Saturday's third-place play-off.

A chorus of disappointment across the French press

Le Parisien described the result as a "rude awakening," noting that France "never found the key to break down the Spanish Armada." Le Figaro concluded that Spain "taught France a lesson," while Ouest France mourned the "end of the American dream." Corse Martin reached for the Spanish word for disappointment on their front page, adding that Deschamps' men were simply "outclassed."

Every major French newspaper chose the same image for their front page: a crestfallen Mbappe.

How the match unfolded

Mikel Oyarzabal converted a first-half penalty to break the deadlock, and Pedro Porro added a second-half strike to seal the victory for the European champions. France's much-anticipated attacking quartet never found their rhythm throughout the evening.

Players and coach react

Midfielder Rayan Cherki was candid in his post-match assessment, placing responsibility firmly on the squad itself.

"It's a huge disappointment, huge because today we lost to ourselves. We didn't lose to the referee, we didn't lose to Spain, we lost to ourselves. Here, you all know, we all know we were a force to be reckoned with. The only team capable of eliminating us was ourselves, and today that's exactly what happened."

Deschamps acknowledged his side fell short of their own standards while pointing to key absences that complicated his options.

"The Spanish team is a strong one. It is tough and proved their skills today. We were below our standard, we committed more technical flaws than before. And even though I believed the entire team would recover, they did not. I have really skilled and top-notch players on the bench, but William Saliba got injured, Adrien Rabiot was at risk because of the yellow card. It is mainly due to that — and we know the skills of the Spanish team. And to hope for victory, we should have been at our maximum and given it all and we did not, unfortunately."

France will face the third-place play-off on Saturday before Deschamps brings his long tenure as national team manager to a close.