Through the afternoon of July 14, Paris was conserving its energy for what was expected to be the perfect footballing celebration.A grand military parade had swamped the Champs-Elysees in the morning, celebrating the national holiday of Bastille Day. From 9pm local time would be the pièce de resistance: across the Atlantic in Dallas, the national football team, increasingly favourites to lift the men’s World Cup, sought to book their place in the final.The circumstances could not have been more poetically poised for Didier Deschamps’ side to avenge a gutting defeat to Spain in the semi-final of the 2024 European Championship, sealing a third consecutive final under the outgoing head coach in the process, and further nudging Kylian Mbappe towards another World Cup Golden Boot.Under a searing heatwave, the French capital in the afternoon had the air of millions saving their energy, waiting with impatience and optimism, for the perfect end to their national day.And then a city watched as that dream dissolved.“It’s a real disappointment,” one fan says sadly, outside a rapidly emptying Parisian bar. Credit is given to Spain for a superb performance, dominating Les Bleus and progressing to the final after a 2-0 win.“They were way above us. But it’s still just like…” she pauses, trying to sum up this brutal, anticlimactic exit. “Ending this way?”“I’m a fan of the French team from every time, but this year, it’s fantastic,” 55-year-old Ludovic tells The Athletic earlier in the afternoon. Outside the French Football Federation store in Paris, there is a steady stream of fans filing in and out to secure the shirt of the team that, at that moment, feels likely to win the World Cup.Don’t be fooled by hindsight: Parisians had every reason to believe this would be their year.Argentina vs England: Messi's Final PushFrance’s irresistible attack had laid waste to opponent after opponent — not dropping points in the group stage like Spain or England, nor needing dramatic extra-time knockout victories like Argentina. Mbappe, the World Cup’s all-time second-top goalscorer after Lionel Messi, has been neck-and-neck with the Argentine legend in an exceptional Golden Boot race. They are the tournament’s second-top scorers after Argentina, and before the clash with Spain, had conceded only twice.“It’s a very offensive (attacking) team. It is incredible. It’s not Didier Deschamps!” Ludovic says. “It’s amazing this year.”There was definite optimism. Where better to celebrate than Paris? The French capital, also home to Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain, is an undisputed football hub; there were 56 players born in the city at the World Cup this summer.“It has been great,” says Marie Leroux, 34, speaking before the semi-final. “Parisians may have been less involved in this World Cup than in 2018 or 2022, but the feeling is still there — Parisians are like the most French people of all, so we are still very involved, and we are rooting for our team, and we are enjoying every moment of it.People in Paris on Tuesday in France shirts (Djoudi Hamani/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images)“We have a team that is quite young and quite eager to win. So, it’s been really nice to see and to watch this team being so empowered and so motivated to play.”“I like the talent that the team has,” says 45-year-old Karim, stopping to speak outside the FFF store hours before the game. “Also, the fact that we have different ethnicities, the fact that this is the French team, actually, it reflects exactly what our country is today — even if, unfortunately, some people don’t understand exactly what it means to be French. But to be French, it’s to love the country, to love our values, and to be all connected all together.”Though the streets were fairly quiet in the middle of Bastille Day, with plenty driven indoors by a red heat warning, Paris’ bars and bistros were still scattered with France kits close to eight hours before kick-off. An early afternoon metro journey featured an eclectic mix of armed guards in full camouflage with guns, a soldier in full military dress complete with golden fringed epaulettes, and shirts bearing the names of Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele, Zinedine Zidane, and more, both in the traditional navy and the mint green of the away strip.Some fans tell The Athletic that bars have not been as busy as past tournaments during other teams’ games — perhaps owing to the unsociable kick-off times — but the excitement around France games remains.