Didier Deschamps' long, storied career with France will come to an end not how he would have wanted it - in Saturday's World Cup third-place play-off.

The dreams of the 57-year-old, who won the World Cup as both a player (in 1998) and a manager (in 2018), winning it a third time are over after their 2-0 defeat by Spain in Tuesday's first semi-final.

Having danced their way through the tournament with a series of impressive attacking displays, France managed just 10 shots all match in Dallas, their lowest total in the World Cup, with an expected goals of just 0.3 as they belied their pre-match tag of overwhelming favourites.

Former France midfielder Patrick Viera told ITV: "They haven't shown up. I was expecting more. There was a big expectations for France to win the World Cup.

"France will all disappointed by the result and the performance. All our top players went missing. Collectively we were really bad."

Mbappe appeared to criticise France's tactics, adding: "We were three against two in midfield, and against Spain that's hard.

"There was a lack of communication on the press. We should have done man-to-man press and forced them to run with us.

"When you don't do what you have to do in a World Cup semi-final, you don't win. Spain respected their gameplan and what the team usually does.

"They are better than us at controlling a game. We didn't manage to do it. We were too sloppy technically. We could not hurt them when we could have."

It will be zero consolation but Deschamps, in charge since 2012, set a record in Dallas for most World Cup games managed - 26.

He previously shared the mark of 25 with ex-West Germany boss Helmut Schon.

Deschamps confirmed in January 2025 that he would step down after this summer's tournament and will mark his farewell game against the losers of England v Argentina in Miami on Saturday at 22:00 BST.

"It's not time to talk about the future," he said in his post-match news conference. "It is not important on a personal level whether I leave a competition in a semi-final or final.

"I am extremely happy. I am very proud of everything we've done to reach this stage and to win a World Cup - to take the French team to the highest level.

"I have been lucky as a player. I have enjoyed happy moments. Today is not such a moment. We must accept it without forgetting everything we experienced."

Deschamps is one of only three people to win the World Cup as a player and manager - alongside Brazil's Mario Zagallo and West Germany's Franz Beckenbauer.

His longevity as manager is also rare in the current era, having led the national team for 14 years.

He won 20 of his 26 World Cup games as France boss, only losing three times - including this defeat by Spain in Texas.

As a player or manager, he was involved in more than half of the games France won at World Cups - and the two times they lifted the trophy.

Only three teams before now have reached the quarter-finals at least in four successive tournaments.

They lost to Argentina on penalties in the 2022 final, coming desperately close to being only the third team to retain the World Cup.

More might have been expected from this side with joint tournament top scorer Kylian Mbappe, plus Ballon d'Or winner Ousmane Dembele and rising star Michael Olise of Bayern Munich, in front of an established Spain defence and midfield.

"There was extra motivation for all the players at this World Cup to give Didier the ending he wanted, and deserved," said former France striker and BBC pundit Olivier Giroud.

"He deserved to exit by the big door. He did not quite manage that but he is still a great, for what he has already done in his 14 years.

"His record does the talking for him."

Giroud, who won the 2018 World Cup under Deschamps, added: "He is like a second father for some players, like a second dad.

"For me it was not quite like that, but he gave me so many times his confidence, and I tried to repay him on the pitch.

"This makes us very close and because we won that World Cup, we are linked forever. I always call him coach.

"When you are in the national team, you don't have much time to work on tactics and each manager has their philosophy.

"For Didier, his was more like 'you are big players, I leave you some freedom on the pitch'. He gave some instructions too of course, to keep the balance, so you always knew where each player would be.

"The biggest thing he taught us was his desire, and his drive and ambition to be the absolute best and to win every single game. His competitive mindset was so clear."

Former France defender Gael Clichy, who played in the first year of Deschamps' reign, praised him on BBC Radio 5 Live.

Deschamps, who has managed Monaco, Juventus and Marseille, replaced Laurent Blanc in 2012 after a poor run in tournaments as France had been eliminated in the group stage at the 2008 European Championships and the 2010 World Cup, with the squad refusing to train at the latter tournament because of a dispute with manager Raymond Domenech.

At Euro 2012 Laurent Blanc achieved a slight improvement by reaching the quarter-finals, only for France to be beaten by eventual champions Spain.

But the transformation under Deschamps has been considerable, maximising France's regular supply of talent and creating a largely unified squad on his watch.

Deschamps has been unable to get over the line in the Euros but France made the final on home soil in 2016 and the semi-finals in 2024.

"His legacy was that he took a team that was below par and he managed to bring that team back up to the top," said ex-Arsenal and Manchester City player Clichy, who manages third-tier Caen in France.

"This legacy of his really means we don't have to talk about what he should or could have done.

"What he has done for French football as a player and a coach is fantastic. It is phenomenal."

The favourite to replace Deschamps is former team-mate Zinedine Zidane.

ESPN reported, external in March that a verbal agreement was in place for Zidane to take over this summer.

The 54-year-old, who won the 1998 World Cup alongside Deschamps, won three Champions League trophies as manager of Real Madrid, his only managerial job.

He ended his second spell with the Spanish giants in 2021.

Clichy said: "The guy who will come in behind Deschamps will find it hard. It won't be easy."