India, July 15 -- France's World Cup ended with one defeat. That sentence is factually correct, but it hardly explains the scale of what was lost.

Before Spain beat them 2-0 in the semifinal, France had produced the most complete campaign of the tournament. They had won six matches out of six, scored 16 goals, conceded only two and kept clean sheets in all three of their knockout games. Their route included a 3-0 win over Sweden, a controlled 1-0 victory over Paraguay, and a 2-0 quarter-final success over Morocco.

At the centre of it all was Kylian Mbappe.

Mbappe arrived at the semifinal with eight goals and three assists. He had been directly involved in 11 of France's 16 goals, a contribution rate of nearly 69 per cent. He was the to...