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On the afternoon of July 14, in Arlington, Texas, the scoreboard at AT&T Stadium flashed 0 2. On the same day, 98 fighter jets roared over the Champs Élysées in Paris, as the Patrouille de France aerobatic team trailed blue, white, and red smoke. The same country, the same National Day. In Paris, 6,700 marching soldiers and delegations from 37 allied nations surrounded the president. In Dallas, the national team was being dominated on the turf by a 19 year old Spanish kid.
On the afternoon of July 14th, in Arlington, Texas, the scoreboard at AT&T Stadium flashed 0-2. On the same day, 98 fighter jets roared over the Champs-Élysées in Paris, and the Patrouille de France flight team trailed blue, white, and red smoke. The same country, the same National Day. In Paris, 6,700 marching soldiers and delegations from 37 allied nations surrounded the president. In Dallas, the national team was being ground into the turf by a 19-year-old Spanish kid.
Macron didn't go anywhere. He couldn't go anywhere.
In 2018 in Moscow, he pumped his fist in the stands of Luzhniki Stadium and kissed Mbappé on the forehead during the award ceremony. In 2022 in Doha, he had a seat in the stands for both the semi-final and the final. Those two years, the calendar was kind to him, with National Day and the match schedule not clashing. Not in 2026. July 14th is France's National Day, and it was also the last July 14th military parade of his presidency. The theme was "Europe's Strategic Awakening," with Zelenskyy seated beside him, and 315 military vehicles rolling in from the Arc de Triomphe. You can't just tap the Chief of the Defense Staff on the shoulder at such an event and say, "Sorry, I have to fly to Dallas to watch the game."
The state machinery in Paris was locked in tight. 8,000 kilometers away, the national team's defense was shattered.
The July heat in Dallas could melt you. The French team prepared in the air-conditioned confines of AT&T Stadium. No matter how strong the cold air blew, it didn't wake up the backline.
A pre-game moment was swallowed by the 0-2 scoreline. Macron personally requested FIFA to hold a minute of silence before kickoff for the victims of the 2016 Nice attack. Ten years ago, on July 14th, a truck plowed through the Promenade des Anglais, killing 86 people. In his pre-match statement, he wrote, "A tribute to the victims of the Nice attack of July 14, 2016." The players bowed their heads, the stadium fell silent.
The whistle blew. The silence lasted 22 minutes.
In the 22nd minute, Lamine Yamal was brought down by Lucas Digne in the box. Yes, that 19-year-old Barcelona kid. The French team surrounded the referee, protesting a handball first. VAR checked, no change. Mikel Oyarzabal slotted the penalty into the top right corner. 1-0.
In the 58th minute, Pedro Porro scored on a counter-attack one-on-one. 2-0. The game was effectively over by then.
Mbappé, who led the tournament with 8 goals before the match, had 3 shots all game, with an expected goals (xG) of 0.09. What does 0.09 mean? All the threat he created in 90 minutes of wandering around the pitch combined was less than an unchallenged tap-in from the penalty spot. He attempted 6 dribbles, succeeding in 1. Sofascore gave him a post-match rating of 6.1, with the description "a rare quiet night." "Quiet" is too polite. This was invisible.
The Spanish probably didn't even think it was that hard. Over the past two years, they've sent France home three times in a row in major tournament semi-finals: 2-1 at Euro 2024, 5-4 in the 2025 Nations League, and 2-0 in the 2026 World Cup. Same opponent, same hurdle. The French team walked into Arlington with a defense valued at €404 million, against Spain's €288 million. Money bought nothing. On the pitch, a defense worth over €400 million, like the president's itinerary, was just worthless paper once the whistle blew.
Macron's team had prepared another script. July 19th, East Rutherford, New Jersey, MetLife Stadium, capacity 82,500. According to reports from L'Équipe and Le Parisien, the president's office had confirmed: as long as France advanced, Macron would fly to New York to watch the final in person. He had the trophy-lifting photo from Moscow in 2018, the dejected silhouette from Doha in 2022, and the coronation in New York in 2026 was supposed to complete this presidential trilogy. The Élysée Palace's PR team even had the headline ready. The final whistle tore up the script. The plane tickets were canceled.
After the match, Macron posted on X: "Bravo to Spain for this qualification. Thank you to the Bleus... Tonight's defeat is hard to take but..." Congratulations to Spain, thank you to the French team, tonight's defeat is hard to accept, but... There was nothing after that "but." Just like the plane tickets to New York had no passengers.
On July 19th, all 82,500 seats at MetLife Stadium will be filled. Macron will be in Paris.