Spain booked their place within the 2026 World Cup final with a formidable 2-0 win over France in Dallas, ending Didier Deschamps’ hopes of a triumphant farewell.
La Roja will now face both England or Argentina in Sunday’s showpiece after producing a disciplined and medical show that left France’s star-studded assault annoyed.
The breakthrough arrived after 20 minutes following a second of brilliance and bravado from Lamine Yamal.
The teenage winger darted in entrance of Lucas Digne because the France defender tried to clear his traces, drawing contact and a penalty regardless of protests from Les Bleus.
Mikel Oyarzabal confirmed no signal of nerves from the spot, emphatically dispatching his penalty excessive into the top-right nook past Mike Maignan’s dive at hand Spain a deserved lead.
France’s afternoon worsened shortly afterwards when William Saliba was pressured off with a again damage halfway by way of the primary half.
French assault halted
Regardless of boasting the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele, Michael Olise and Bradley Barcola, France struggled badly to create significant alternatives towards Spain’s organised defence.
Aymeric Laporte and Pau Cubarsi had been glorious on the coronary heart of the again line, whereas Unai Simon was not often referred to as into severe motion.
Mbappe’s greatest alternative earlier than the break noticed the striker race by way of on aim, just for Simon to hurry from his line and clear the hazard earlier than the France captain may apply a end.
Spain seemed more and more harmful on the counter after half-time and doubled their benefit simply earlier than the hour mark by way of an unlikely supply.
After Dani Olmo and Pedro Porro mixed brilliantly on the sting of the realm, the Tottenham full-back continued his run earlier than calmly side-footing previous Maignan to make it 2-0 and go away France dealing with a mountain to climb.
Recent legs fail to affect
Deschamps responded by introducing recent legs, with Need Doue and Rayan Cherki each thrown into the motion, however France by no means discovered any rhythm.
Their frustrations boiled over as Mbappe collected a late yellow card following a rash problem on Simon.
The closest Les Bleus got here to a breakthrough arrived when Mbappe pressured Marc Cucurella into an vital block earlier than Simon recovered from a uncommon mistake to disclaim Doue late on.
By full-time, France had managed simply three pictures on the right track and generated solely 0.3 anticipated targets regardless of the array of attacking expertise at their disposal.
