Spain defeated France 2–0 in the FIFA World Cup semi-finals in Arlington, Texas. With this victory, their winning streak against France extended to three matches. They also defeated France in the semi-finals of UEFA Euro 2024 and 2025 UEFA Nations League.
Spain opened their account with a penalty kick from Mikel Oyarzabal after Lamin Yamal was brought down in the box in the first half. Early in the second half, Pedro Porro doubled Spain’s lead and secured their place in the World Cup final. Mikel Oyarzabal has scored 18 goals in his last 20 games for Spain. With this penalty goal, he became the sixth footballer to reach the 30-goal mark for Spain. He is the only player to achieve this feat along with David Silva (35), Alvaro Morata (37), Fernando Torres (38), Raul (44) and David Villa (59). Spain’s Pedro Porro was named player of the match.
France suffered an early blow when central defender William Saliba was forced off midway through the first half with a back injury and replaced by Maxence Lacroix. Spain maintained possession of the ball and kept France’s attacking trio of Michel Olisseh, Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele at bay, giving them a 1–0 lead at half-time. History was also against France. Before this, only Argentina (against Italy in 1990) and Croatia (against England in 2018) had come from behind to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup. In an attempt to change the momentum of the match, head coach Didier Deschamps brought on Manu Konnella in place of Adrien Rabiot at half-time and then Désiré Douella in place of Bradley Barkola. However, due to constant pressure and important saves from goalkeeper Unai Simon, Spain maintained control of the match. Poro then scored Spain’s second goal with a spectacular goal, sealing the victory and ending France’s hopes of victory.
With the win, Spain equaled Italy’s record of 37 consecutive matches without losing and reached only the second FIFA World Cup final in their history.
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