{"id":95,"date":"2026-07-14T22:36:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T22:36:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jackshine.net\/?p=95"},"modified":"2026-07-14T22:36:03","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T22:36:03","slug":"sacre-bleus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jackshine.net\/?p=95","title":{"rendered":"SACR\u00c9 BLEUS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The French National Team, Les Bleus, has been eliminated from the World Cup by Spain after a 2-0 finish at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My two thoughts going into this tournament a month ago were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Not France<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Not England.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    And while England is still alive in the tournament and will face Leo Messi and Argentina tomorrow in the other semifinal in Atlanta, the French were my public enemy number one. The team that looked to reach its third consecutive World Cup final today feels nothing like the French squad from 2006 that I cheered on in that tournament, and against the flopping Italians in that absurd final. Zidane, Rib\u00e9ry and Henry played the game with elegance, grit and authenticity. I don’t say that lightly. I’m not easily moved to support the French.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    While this French side lacks any semblance of the appeal the team from two decades ago may have held for me, they were perhaps the most high-powered offense this World Cup had to offer and a solid favorite to win the competition, growing steadily as such with each passing round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    To quote a man who himself has not been having the best week, Conor McGregor, “Precision beats power, and timing beats speed.” That is exactly how Spain dominated this game. In a match that was 50\/50 in terms of possession, it felt tilted in favor of the Spanish. They struck with lethal precision not only in the game’s most critical moments, but through all the small battles upon which those tipping points are built.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    France’s advances were turned away by a highly aggressive keeper, Unai Sim\u00f3n, who wasn’t afraid to run out of the box and cut off a charging Mbappe on multiple occasions. The last fifteen minutes of the game saw the action vacillate between Spain extinguishing France’s desperate attempts to get on the board and a brilliant game of keep away to kill time, masterfully executed by the Iberians. Mbappe being unable to get his final two shots on target contributed to the French misery. Spain will almost certainly be the favorite heading into Sunday’s final, whether it be against either England or Argentina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    And should the English manage to get through the White and Sky Blue tomorrow, they may be reminded that Spain was the original empire upon which the sun never set.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The French National Team, Les Bleus, has been eliminated from the World Cup by Spain after a 2-0 finish at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington. My two thoughts going into this tournament a month ago were: And while England is still alive in the tournament and will face Leo Messi and Argentina tomorrow in the other … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[46,43,44,42],"class_list":["post-95","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world-football","tag-england","tag-france","tag-spain","tag-world-cup"],"yoast_head":"\nSACR\u00c9 BLEUS - Jack Shine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jackshine.net\/?p=95\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SACR\u00c9 BLEUS - Jack Shine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The French National Team, Les Bleus, has been eliminated from the World Cup by Spain after a 2-0 finish at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington. My two thoughts going into this tournament a month ago were: And while England is still alive in the tournament and will face Leo Messi and Argentina tomorrow in the other ... Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/jackshine.net\/?p=95\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jack Shine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-14T22:36:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-14T22:36:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jack Shine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jack Shine\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jackshine.net\\\/?p=95#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jackshine.net\\\/?p=95\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jack Shine\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jackshine.net\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/623a3b1868ab45f57f1de01cb10ab687\"},\"headline\":\"SACR\u00c9 BLEUS\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-14T22:36:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-14T22:36:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jackshine.net\\\/?p=95\"},\"wordCount\":397,\"keywords\":[\"England\",\"France\",\"Spain\",\"World Cup\"],\"articleSection\":[\"World Football\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jackshine.net\\\/?p=95\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jackshine.net\\\/?p=95\",\"name\":\"SACR\u00c9 BLEUS - Jack Shine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jackshine.net\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-14T22:36:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-14T22:36:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jackshine.net\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/623a3b1868ab45f57f1de01cb10ab687\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jackshine.net\\\/?p=95#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jackshine.net\\\/?p=95\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jackshine.net\\\/?p=95#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jackshine.net\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"SACR\u00c9 BLEUS\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jackshine.net\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jackshine.net\\\/\",\"name\":\"Jack Shine\",\"description\":\"Outlaw Fiction\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jackshine.net\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jackshine.net\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/623a3b1868ab45f57f1de01cb10ab687\",\"name\":\"Jack Shine\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jackshine.net\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jackshine.net\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"SACR\u00c9 BLEUS - Jack Shine","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/jackshine.net\/?p=95","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"SACR\u00c9 BLEUS - Jack Shine","og_description":"The French National Team, Les Bleus, has been eliminated from the World Cup by Spain after a 2-0 finish at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington. My two thoughts going into this tournament a month ago were: And while England is still alive in the tournament and will face Leo Messi and Argentina tomorrow in the other ... Read more","og_url":"https:\/\/jackshine.net\/?p=95","og_site_name":"Jack Shine","article_published_time":"2026-07-14T22:36:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-07-14T22:36:03+00:00","author":"Jack Shine","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jack Shine","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/jackshine.net\/?p=95#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jackshine.net\/?p=95"},"author":{"name":"Jack Shine","@id":"https:\/\/jackshine.net\/#\/schema\/person\/623a3b1868ab45f57f1de01cb10ab687"},"headline":"SACR\u00c9 BLEUS","datePublished":"2026-07-14T22:36:02+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-14T22:36:03+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jackshine.net\/?p=95"},"wordCount":397,"keywords":["England","France","Spain","World Cup"],"articleSection":["World Football"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/jackshine.net\/?p=95","url":"https:\/\/jackshine.net\/?p=95","name":"SACR\u00c9 BLEUS - Jack Shine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jackshine.net\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-07-14T22:36:02+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-14T22:36:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/jackshine.net\/#\/schema\/person\/623a3b1868ab45f57f1de01cb10ab687"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/jackshine.net\/?p=95#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/jackshine.net\/?p=95"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/jackshine.net\/?p=95#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/jackshine.net\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"SACR\u00c9 BLEUS"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/jackshine.net\/#website","url":"https:\/\/jackshine.net\/","name":"Jack Shine","description":"Outlaw Fiction","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/jackshine.net\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/jackshine.net\/#\/schema\/person\/623a3b1868ab45f57f1de01cb10ab687","name":"Jack Shine","sameAs":["https:\/\/jackshine.net"],"url":"https:\/\/jackshine.net\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackshine.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackshine.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackshine.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackshine.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackshine.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=95"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jackshine.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96,"href":"https:\/\/jackshine.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions\/96"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackshine.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=95"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackshine.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=95"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackshine.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=95"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}