ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Kylian Mbappé saw it for himself on the field: France simply didn’t play well enough to reach a third consecutive World Cup final.
The France striker will have to settle for a third-place match and the continuing chase for another Golden Boot award in a tight race with Argentina superstar Lionel Messi.
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Spain's Dani Olmo (10) tries to poke the ball away from France's Kylian Mbappe (10) during the World Cup semifinal soccer match between France and Spain in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
France's Kylian Mbappe (10) gestures after the World Cup semifinal soccer match between France and Spain in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Spain's Lamine Yamal and France's Kylian Mbappe (10) vie for the ball during a World Cup semifinal soccer match in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
France's Kylian Mbappe walks the field during a World Cup semifinal soccer match against Spain in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
France's Kylian Mbappe reacts during a World Cup semifinal soccer match against Spain in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Mbappé, one of the biggest stars of this year's World Cup and one of the game's greatest scorers, just couldn't generate many chances in his team's 2-0 loss to Spain in the semifinals on Tuesday.
Mbappé and Messi have eight goals each so far at this year's tournament. Mbappé, who won the Golden Boot at the last World Cup four years ago in Qatar, holds the first tiebreaker with a 3-2 lead on assists. Messi and defending champion Argentina will play again on Wednesday in the other semifinal match against England.
Both players will then have one more match before the award is decided. France will play the loser of the other semifinal match in the third-place game on Saturday in Miami Gardens, Florida. Spain will take on the winner in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the final.
“At the end of the day, you take all the glory when you win,” Mbappé said. "When you don’t win ... it’s part of the game. As the captain, I have to take all the responsibility, and I have no problem with that. We wanted to go to the final. We didn’t go.”
Mbappé had the fewest touches of any forward in the first half with 15. Perhaps his most prominent moment was trying to persuade referee Ivan Barton that the penalty resulting in Spain's first goal shouldn't have been called.
The foul by Lucas Digne on teenager Lamine Yamal stood, and Mikel Oyarzabal’s penalty kick in the 22nd minute, put Spain ahead for good.
Mbappé's best chance came in the 67th minute when his shot deflected off Spain defender Marc Cucurella and went just wide. La Roja already had a two-goal lead at that point.
“It’s a team who loves to have control of the game, control of the ball,” Mbappé said. “That’s what we let them do. We let the midfield too much time to play, and at the end of the day they had quality to play. It’s difficult when you don’t change the play of Spain. We weren’t at the level to go to the final.”
The 27-year-old Mbappé was issued a yellow card in the 86th minute when he rushed toward Unai Simón just as the Spain goalkeeper was bending over to pick up the ball. The two collided, sending Simón to the grass.
Mbappé started the match against Spain after exiting in the 77th minute of his team’s 2-0 quarterfinal win over Morocco, when he scored his eighth goal of the tournament.
Mbappé also scored eight goals four years ago in Qatar, where France lost to Messi and Argentina in a penalty shootout in the final. France beat Croatia to win the World Cup eight years ago in Russia.
“They (France) can punish you at every single moment, so I think the focus in every single minute was key in this game,” Spain midfielder Rodri said. “Unbelievable effort by everyone.”
See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here
Spain's Dani Olmo (10) tries to poke the ball away from France's Kylian Mbappe (10) during the World Cup semifinal soccer match between France and Spain in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
France's Kylian Mbappe (10) gestures after the World Cup semifinal soccer match between France and Spain in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Spain's Lamine Yamal and France's Kylian Mbappe (10) vie for the ball during a World Cup semifinal soccer match in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
France's Kylian Mbappe walks the field during a World Cup semifinal soccer match against Spain in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
France's Kylian Mbappe reacts during a World Cup semifinal soccer match against Spain in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian forces launched one of their biggest drone attacks on Russia since Moscow’s invasion over four years ago, firing almost 800 drones only two days after a similar salvo, officials said Tuesday.
Meanwhile, a Russian missile strike on a village in northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region killed at least 10 people and wounded 17 others as the barrage demolished homes, officials said.
The countries are locked in an escalating duel of long-range aerial strikes. Fighting on the roughly 1,250-kilometer (780-mile) front line in eastern and southern Ukraine is restricted by large numbers of drones and ground robots threatening troop movements, and neither side is making significant battlefield progress, analysts say.
In the past year, Ukraine has devised and deployed domestically produced long-range drones for strikes deep inside Russia. Its drone technology has impressed governments and defense manufacturers around the world.
Officials in Kyiv aim to make the Russian public feel the war’s consequences and pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin into negotiating a peace settlement. Putin has so far shown no sign he intends to stop the invasion.
“Putin continues to drag out the war instead of accepting Ukraine’s realistic ceasefire proposals and ending the bloodshed,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a post on X.
Russian air defenses overnight intercepted 791 Ukrainian drones over a number of regions, as well as annexed Crimea and the Black and the Azov seas, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said, in what was the second-largest drone attack since January 2025, according to an Associated Press tally.
More than 600 Ukrainian drones flew toward the Moscow region, where 180 were shot down, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said without elaborating.
Officials reported no deaths or major damage. Ukraine has increasingly launched swarms of hundreds of drones to try to overwhelm Russian air defenses.
In the region that surrounds the capital, three people were wounded, Gov. Andrei Vorobyov said.
Three people were also wounded in the adjacent Ryazan region where three private houses were damaged, Gov. Pavel Malkov said.
The overnight attack started a fire at a warehouse of Wildberries, Russia’s biggest online retailer, in an industrial zone. Ukraine has repeatedly targeted the company, which it says helps supply the Russian military, an allegation Moscow denies.
Wildberries said its facility sustained “insignificant damage.”
Coverage of the attack in state and Kremlin-backed Russian media was mostly muted, as is often the case. Russia’s main TV channels — state-run Russia 1 and Channel One — did not mention the attack at all in their morning news bulletins.
But Russian state news agency RIA Novosti featured it among the main news on its website’s homepage, describing it as “one of the most large-scale attacks on Moscow since the beginning of the summer.”
State newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta on its website prominently featured a roundup of what Moscow regional Gov. Andrei Vorobyov reported about the attack, describing it as “massive” in the headline. Pro-Kremlin tabloid MK featured a news brief about it on its home page.
A Russian missile strike on the village of Pechenihy in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region killed 10 civilians, according to preliminary information, said Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv regional military administration.
Another 17 people were wounded, he said. Zelenskyy called it “a brutal attack” that damaged 10 homes, a cafe, a post office, a store and at least seven vehicles, according to Syniehubov.
“We will definitely respond to this Russian strike,” Zelenskyy said on social media.
Also, three people were killed and three others were wounded over the past day in Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Sumy region, Ukraine’s National Police said.
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who took office last month, said the U.K. will continue to stand by Ukraine after Russia said that Kyiv’s reported use of British drones for attacks on Russian soil would bring unidentified consequences.
“We are providing support so that Ukraine can defend itself, and that’s been the British position all the way through this conflict by previous prime ministers," Burnham said. “It remains the case with me.”
British newspaper The Sunday Times reported that two U.K. companies made drones used by Ukraine to hit Russia.
Following the report, the Russian Embassy in the U.K. said in a statement that “London’s actions will inevitably carry consequences.”
Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal. Brian Melley in London contributed.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
A street cleaner observes a daily nationwide minute of silence in memory of soldiers killed in the war with Russia, in Kyiv, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - In this photo, provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, rescuers carry a body that they removed from under the rubble of a private house following a Russian air attack in Pechenihy, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
A street cleaner observes a daily nationwide minute of silence in memory of soldiers killed in the war with Russia, in Kyiv, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
In this photo, provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, fire is seen on the site of a Russian air attack in Pechenihy, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo, provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, rescuers carry a body that they removed from under the rubble of a private house following a Russian air attack in Pechenihy, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyov's official telegram channel, flame and smoke rise from a construction site after a Ukrainian drone attack in an undisclosed area in the Moscow region, Russia, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyov's office via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, fire is seen on the site of a Russian air attack in Pechenihy, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
