In a thrilling morning showdown, Spain secured their spot in the World Cup final for just the second time in history, following a nearly impeccable performance that dismantled a French side struggling to find its rhythm.
Despite being the favorites after a series of stunning offensive displays in the United States, Didier Deschamps’ French squad was unable to overcome the formidable challenge posed by the reigning European champions during the semi-finals.
Spain’s victory was highlighted by Mikel Oyarzabal, who confidently netted an early lead with a penalty kick in the first half in Arlington, Texas. Later, Pedro Porro added to the scoreline, doubling Spain’s advantage in the second half.
For the French, it was a day of bitter disappointment. Despite having a wealth of attacking talent, they were unable to mount a comeback against Spain’s superior play.
Reflecting on Spain’s success, coach Luis de la Fuente remarked, “We started almost four years ago with an idea and we’ve been faithful to that idea and it’s brought us here.”
“These players deserve everything,” he added. “Day after day they’ve shown their commitment, their solidarity, their generosity, their talent. They make the difficult look easy.”
The game at Dallas Stadium caught fire midway through the first half when Salvadoran referee Ivan Barton pointed to the penalty spot after a reckless challenge by France left-back Lucas Digne on Spain winger Lamine Yamal.
Oyarzabal hammered the ball past France goalkeeper Mike Maignan for his fifth goal of the World Cup to leave France trailing for the first time in the tournament.
It was the Real Sociedad forward’s 18th goal in his past 20 games for Spain.
France were on the back foot and never recovered, with Spain showing confidence and control for much of the match.
The team that captivated fans in thrilling wins against Morocco, Paraguay and Sweden just didn’t show up
Minutes after Oyarzabal’s penalty, France took another hit when centre-back William Saliba was forced off the pitch with a lower back injury.
French coach Didier Deschamps replaced Bradley Barcola with Désiré Doué in the 57th minute, hoping to supercharge his attack, but a minute later they were 2-0 down after a stunning team goal from Luis de la Fuente’s men.
Defender Porro delivered a sharp pass to Dani Olmo on the edge of the box and collected the return ball before coolly slotting past goalkeeper Maignan to double the team’s lead.
Despite a livelier second half, France could not find a way back into the game against a Spain team that just seemed one step ahead.
In Deschamps’ words: “Technically, we were second best.”
“That is on us.
“We lacked technical precision and energy. The Spanish are very good at breaking up moves by reading interceptions and passes. We would have liked to cause them more problems going forward.”
Deschamps had previously announced this would be his last World Cup.
Meanwhile, in the winner’s camp, player of the match Porro was ecstatic.
“A dream come true … to be honest, I never even imagined anything like this, not even in my wildest dreams,” he said.
“We did everything right, everything we needed to do, against a team that was having a brilliant World Cup.”
Spain have conceded just once in the entire tournament, combining an impenetrable defence with consistent and creative attacks.
They are now just 90 minutes away from winning the first-ever 48-team World Cup as they seek to match the achievement of Vicente del Bosque’s team 16 years ago.
This is the first time since 2014 that France won’t be playing in the World Cup final. They beat Croatia in 2018 and took home silver after a nail-biting loss to Argentina in 2022.
France will find out tomorrow who they are facing in Monday’s final, when England take on defending champions Argentina in Atlanta in the second semi-final.
Watch England v Argentina live on SBS and SBS on Demand on Thursday 16 July. Kick-off 5am AEST.