France coach Deschamps laments ‘cruel’ loss in World Cup final The42

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Updated at 8:38 p.m.

FRANCE COACH Didier Deschamps says the way his side lost Sunday’s World Cup final to Argentina was cruel after they came from behind twice in the game only to succumb in a a penalty shootout.

We weren’t as good in the first 60 minutes against quality opponents who had a lot more energy, but we came out of nowhere and turned things around from a very difficult situation. It leaves us with even more regrets, Deschamps said after France failed in their bid to become the first team in 60 years to retain the trophy.

Kylian Mbappe scored twice in two minutes late in Doha to nullify Argentina’s two-goal lead and force extra time, in which he scored again from the penalty spot to complete his hat-trick and make it 3- 3 after Lionel Messi put the opposition back in front.

Randal Kolo Muani was then denied a last-gasp winner by goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, and Argentina won the shoot-out 4-2, with Frances Kingsley Coman having his penalty saved and Aurélien Tchouameni missing the target.

We had a chance to win the World Cup at the last minute, but it wasn’t, Deschamps said.

At 2-0 there would not have been the same regrets, you just say bravo to them.

I don’t want to take any credit away from Argentina but there were a lot of emotions and it was cruel at the end because we were so close.

Deschamps hinted that the virus that took down several of his players as the final approached was partly responsible for their poor performance in the first hour.

There were many reasons why we weren’t as good. Several important players had less energy but bringing in younger players with less experience but a lot of freshness and quality allowed us to keep dreaming.

Gavin CooneyReporting from Qatar

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But unfortunately the dream did not come true.

For the latest news on FifaWorldCupQatar 2022 see here >

AFP 2022

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