Spain beat France 2-0 to reach FIFA World Cup final; Mbappe neutralised, Rodri masterful

Spain beat France 2-0 in Dallas on Tuesday to reach the FIFA World Cup final, where they will face either England or Argentina, the winner of Wednesday's semifinal.

Mikel Oyarzabal converted a penalty just before half-time after Lamine Yamal's tenacious pressing forced Lucas Digne into a foul inside the box. Pedro Porro then made the game safe shortly after the hour mark, combining with Dani Olmo before sliding his finish beyond Mike Maignan. Yamal appeared to add a third late on, racing clear and curling beyond the French goalkeeper, but the offside flag denied him by the narrowest of margins.

France, who had entered the semifinal as tournament favourites, scoring 18 goals in six matches, never looked like getting back into the contest. Kylian Mbappe ended the evening without a meaningful opportunity, Ousmane Dembele dropped progressively deeper as the game slipped away, and Michael Olise was substituted after another quiet evening. Spain restricted one of the World Cup's most feared attacks to zero big chances and 0.30 expected goals, while generating 1.63 themselves from three clear openings.

How Spain did it

France had built their tournament on speed and individual brilliance in transition. Spain refused to engage on those terms. Luis de la Fuente's side pressed with precision, compacted the spaces between the lines, and kept France constantly receiving the ball under pressure. Mbappe drifted across the frontline searching for pockets of space he never found. When he moved left, Porro or Rodri covered. When he cut inside, Pau Cubarsí and Aymeric Laporte stayed compact.

Rodri was central to everything. The Manchester City midfielder finished with 82 touches, 59 successful passes, four tackles, 100% success in aerial duels and was not dribbled past once. His biggest contribution, however, was positional, arriving in space before Mbappe or Dembele could accelerate, and slowing the game to Spain's tempo whenever France tried to push the pace.

Porro, who took the Player of the Match award, summed up the approach afterwards: "We knew that to get close to the final we needed to have the ball. We knew that to counter their strengths was key."

By the closing stages, France were chasing the game while Pedri, Merino, and Cucurella passed the ball calmly around in stoppage time. Mbappe earned a late booking for a needless push on Unai Simón, a moment that captured an evening that never belonged to the French captain.

Deschamps bows out

The defeat brings Didier Deschamps' 14-year reign as France manager to a close without a third World Cup final, leaving his final campaign to end in the third-place play-off. France had looked their most complete under Deschamps in this tournament, with only two goals conceded in the group stage. Spain exposed what no one else had managed to find.

Spain's path to the final

Spain have now reached the World Cup final without conceding a single goal in the tournament. They have done so while not yet requiring Yamal to carry them, the teenager's most decisive contribution against France was a piece of pressing rather than a moment of brilliance. If anything, the sense around the squad is that his defining World Cup moment is still to come.

The final takes place on Sunday.