Deschamps criticizes this person after France's failure to reach the 2026 World Cup final
Didier Deschamps, head coach of the French national team, criticized Salvadoran referee Iván Barton, who officiated the match between 'Les Bleus' and Spain on Tuesday.
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(CNN)-- Didier Deschamps, the head coach of the French national team, criticized Salvadoran referee Iván Barton, who officiated the match between 'Les Bleus' and Spain on Tuesday.
The French national team, under Deschamps' leadership, lost 2-0 to 'the Matador' in a match hosted at the Dallas stadium on Tuesday, as part of the 2026 World Cup semifinals.
In statements reported by the 'Eurosport' website on Wednesday night, Didier Deschamps questioned whether assigning Iván Barton to officiate the match was 'the right decision'.
Deschamps said: 'I will ask one question: Does the referee have the necessary competence to officiate a World Cup semifinal? But I will not answer it, and the reason is not our loss. There were several situations, some unfavorable, but the first reason is that we were below the required level and less dangerous offensively than we could have been, due to some technical errors and passes that could have provided scoring opportunities.'
He added: 'There is great disappointment, the players are very frustrated because we aimed to achieve outstanding results, even if we have to be rational and admit that we were today at a lower technical level against a team that knows what it is doing, but the fault lies primarily with us, and I do not want to blame anyone.'
The 57-year-old coach explained that the loss result 'must be accepted', noting that 'this step was the last before the potential final match. We will play the third-place match. I do not want to waste everything that has been achieved, but in this match, Spain showed something special. I prepared the match with the players, setting this goal in sight, which is to do everything we could to reach the final. We did not succeed, so disappointment is there. It is a huge disappointment because it is the World Cup. I will not deny all the good achievements we have made, all the wonderful achievements, with all the inevitable complexities, but well, it is somewhat related to this tournament, for all teams, although I thought we recovered well.'
He continued: 'Our opponent prevented us from attacking. We lacked technical precision. Perhaps some players' performance was less dynamic, as they say, and from there, our attacks stopped. The Spanish are very good at that, thanks to their ability to anticipate and pass, and this forced us to defend, so we could not create more attacking problems for them, as we would have liked.'
Original source: CNN Arabic
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