Ousmane Dembele should have been substituted after just FIFTEEN minutes, claims FOX’s Alexi Lalas

Alexi Lalas lambasted ‘awful’ Ousmane Dembele at halftime of the World Cup Final between France and Argentina after the winger was hauled off in the 41st minute.

Dembele helped Argentina open the scoring after his foul on Angel di Maria led to a Lionel Messi penalty goal, while di Maria’s goal in the 36th minute at the end of a counterattack extended the score to 2-0.

Five minutes after that, Dembele and Olivier Giroud were both hauled off, with Dembele getting heavily criticized on the FOX halftime show. 

Ousmane Dembele took down Angel di Maria in the box, leading to a Lionel Messi penalty goal

Alexi Lalas heavily criticized Dembele after a disastrous first half for the winger

‘He got subbed in the 41st minute, he should’ve been taken out after 15 minutes,’ Lalas said. 

‘Awful, absolutely awful on that right hand side including this dumb, dumb play to take down di Maria.’

Landon Donovan added to Lalas’ sentiment, saying Dembele was caught in ‘no man’s land’ before bringing down di Maria in the box. 

Dembele was subbed off just 41 minutes in after giving away after a sloppy half

‘[Di Maria] absolutely abused [Dembele] Rob, and I have a problem with modern wingers, in these moments they don’t know how to defend.’

Meanwhile, Di Maria was lauded as the ‘player of the half’ by Clint Dempsey after his contributions to both goals.

However, the game shifted in the second half as Kylian Mbappe struck twice within a minute to even the game and send it to extra time.