Recommended
Kylian Mbappé and France have not been at a disadvantage at any point in this World Cup. Neither has Spain, led by Rodri Hernández, Lamine Yamal, and the late goals from Mikel Merino coming off the bench.
Only one of those teams will be able to be in the grand final.
France and Spain are both playing in their 17th World Cup, but they have only faced each other once before in the pinnacle of soccer. They meet on Tuesday at the home of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys, the first of two highly anticipated semifinals.
After entering this tournament as the number one ranked team by FIFA, France has scored 14 goals and conceded just two in six matches. Mbappé has eight goals to tie Lionel Messi at the top of the tournament's scoring table, and he is one away from the Argentine captain's all-time World Cup record of 21.
“With the offensive quality there is, the match will be spectacular,” predicted French coach Didier Deschamps.
Mbappé, 27, has scored 20 goals in the 20 matches of his World Cup career, including one in the 2018 victory over Croatia, when he joined Pelé as the only teenagers to score in a World Cup final. The Les Bleus star said he is physically fit after being substituted in the 77th minute of the 2-0 victory against Morocco in the quarterfinals, in which he scored another goal.
“You cannot go beyond 100%, and yes, Kylian is at 100%,” stated Deschamps.
Yamal, who turned 19 on Monday, was already part of two of Spain's semifinal victories over France. He was just a few days shy of turning 17 when he scored in the 2-1 win during the Euro 2024 semifinals, and Spain won again in the Nations League last year.
“We have no fear of France... If there is anyone they should fear, it is us. We are two great teams,” Lamine affirmed after Spain's 3-1 victory over Belgium in the quarterfinals.
The teenager has only one goal in North America, although he has recorded 10 shots on target. He arrived at this World Cup recovering from a left hamstring injury that forced him to miss the final stretch of the season with Barcelona.
French defender Jules Koundé also plays for Barça, so he knows Yamal well and was not angry or offended by those comments.
“For me, it is a sign of confidence. He always does it (at Barcelona). He trusts his virtues a lot, in the virtues of the team where he plays,” said Koundé. “So I don't see it as extra motivation for him and that's it. Nothing more.”
Although Spain has dominated its rivals—10 goals scored and one against—since a surprising 0-0 draw against the surprising Cape Verde at the start of the group stage, La Roja remains alive after Merino scored decisive goals in the final minutes after entering as a substitute in each of the last two matches. All this while goalkeeper Unai Simón set a World Cup record with 650 minutes without conceding a goal, until Belgium found the net 41 minutes into the quarterfinal clash.
Merino scored in the 88th minute for that 2-1 win over Belgium on Friday. In the round of 16, the English champion Arsenal forward scored in the first minute of second-half stoppage time for the 1-0 victory against Portugal, at the same stadium where Spain's semifinal match will be played.
“The reason why Spain has barely conceded a goal is that its rivals have a hard time getting hold of the ball,” said Deschamps.
A quartet of previous champions
This is the first World Cup since 1990 in which each of the four finalists holds the credential of being a champion.
Messi and defending champion Argentina, which beat France for the title four years ago, will face England in the other semifinal on Wednesday in Atlanta.
The championship match will be Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, across the Hudson River from New York City. The third-place match will be played Saturday in Miami Gardens, Florida.
Both have lifted the World Cup trophy since the last time they faced each other
In their only previous World Cup meeting, France beat Spain 3-1 in a round-of-16 match in the 2006 tournament in Germany. La Roja took the lead with a penalty converted by David Villa, but France turned it around with goals from Franck Ribéry, Patrick Vieira, and Zinedine Zidane.
Since then, both teams have been crowned World Cup champions. Spain won its only title in 2010. France hoisted its second cup in 2018.
France, which will play on Bastille Day, is trying to join Brazil (five stars) and Germany (four stars) as the only teams to reach three consecutive World Cup finals. Brazil achieved this in 1994, 1998, and 2002—winning two titles and losing to host France in the middle of that run. Germany's 1990 championship came after finishing as runner-up in the two previous World Cups—all played as West Germany at that time.
Argentina beat France in a penalty shootout in 2022 after a 3-3 draw.
This is France's seventh semifinal appearance, the fifth in the last eight World Cups. Spain's only other semifinals were in 1950 and then in 2010 on the way to the title.
Cierre en Dallas
AT&T Stadium in North Texas will host its ninth match of the tournament, the highest number for this edition expanded to 48 teams. The venue has hosted a Super Bowl and college-level football and men's basketball championship games.
Messi scored three goals in Argentina's two group stage matches, the first on June 22, when, after missing a penalty, he broke the all-time World Cup goal record with the first of his two goals in the 2-0 victory over Austria. He added another goal as a substitute in the final minutes in the group finale on June 27 against Jordan.
Cristiano Ronaldo, the 41-year-old Portuguese star, ended his sixth and final World Cup in the 1-0 loss to Spain in the round of 16 on July 6.
[Publicidad]