France Fail to Turn Up as Spain Reach the World Cup Final

Spain are through to the World Cup final, and they barely had to work for it. Mikel Oyarzabal's 22nd-minute penalty and a clinical Pedro Porro finish gave the European champions a routine 2-0 win over France at Dallas Stadium on Tuesday, in front of 70,176 supporters, in a semi-final that had been billed as the tournament's two best sides colliding and instead became a procession. France arrived with joint-top scorer Kylian Mbappe and Ballon d'Or holder Ousmane Dembele in their front line and could not muster a shot on target until Spain's second goal had already gone in. Spain will now play either England, who they beat in the Euro 2024 final, or world champions Argentina in Sunday's final. France face a third-place play-off on Saturday, an anticlimactic final act for Didier Deschamps' 14-year reign as head coach.

A penalty, a slick move, and not much else from France

The breakthrough came from a mistake France had no need to make. On 22 minutes, Lucas Digne caught Lamine Yamal as he tried to clear the ball out of the France box, and the referee awarded a penalty that Oyarzabal slammed home without hesitation. France lost William Saliba to injury eight minutes later, replaced by Maxence Lacroix, but the enforced change did nothing to alter the pattern of a game Spain already controlled. On 38 minutes Dani Olmo backheeled the ball into the box for Yamal, who chose to cross rather than shoot, and Fabian Ruiz's follow-up was blocked just wide for a corner. The second goal, when it came on 58 minutes, was the tidiest passage of the night: Porro exchanged passes with Olmo and slotted the ball beyond the France goalkeeper from close range. Three minutes later Yamal thought he had a third, breaking through and finishing calmly, only for the flag to go up for a narrow offside. France's one real sight of goal arrived on 81 minutes, and it came from a Spain mistake rather than anything France created: Unai Simon rushed out of his area and sent a headed clearance straight to substitute Desire Doue, who could only fire his shot at the scrambling goalkeeper.

Mbappe shackled, Dembele blunted, Olise substituted

The scoreline flattered France, if anything. They had mustered just two shots and none on target by the time Porro made it 2-0, and the closest thing to a rally arrived far too late to matter. Michael Olise, the tournament's leading assist-maker with five before kick-off, was hooked on 72 minutes having created only two chances and completed neither of his two attempted dribbles. Sky Sports' Peter Smith, watching from Dallas, summed up the gap between France's tournament form and their performance on the night: "Through this World Cup, France have looked like a team who had everything. The fab four-man frontline was slick, a joy to watch and produced moments of magic. Their defence was formidable, with clean sheets in each of their three knockout games up to this point. But on the big day, they were a shadow of themselves." The match fell on Bastille Day, and Smith noted that French supporters in the stadium looked dejected long before full time, with celebrations back home falling flat as the performance played out. Deschamps was blunt about where the blame sat afterwards. "The players are devastated because we had high ambitions, even though we have to admit that today we were a notch below our usual level technically, facing a team that really had a handle on the game," he said. "It's primarily our own fault. We fell short and weren't as dangerous in attack as we could have been, making a few technical errors on passes that might have led to scoring chances. That's the reality of the elite level, even if it hurts."

A third win over France in three tries, and a record still growing

For Spain this was less a shock than a pattern repeating itself. They beat France in the semi-finals on their way to European Championship success two summers ago, then did it again in the Nations League semi-finals in 2025, and now a third time when it mattered most. The result stretched their unbeaten run to 37 matches across all competitions, a joint record for a European nation, and it keeps Luis de la Fuente's side on course to repeat the Euros-World Cup double Spain last managed in 2010. De la Fuente was in no mood to undersell what his players had just done. "We started almost four years ago with an idea and we've been faithful to that idea and it's brought us here," he said. "Today we faced one of the best national teams in the world, but in front of them they had the best team in the world. That is different. These players deserve everything, day after day they've shown their commitment, their solidarity, their generosity, their talent. They make the difficult look easy." France had looked the part in their own quarter-final, and arrived in Dallas as many neutrals' favourites for the tournament outright. That version of France did not show up.

Verdict: Spain look unstoppable, France's era ends without a bang

There was no controversy to hide behind here, no refereeing storyline to soften the result. Spain were simply the better side in every phase that mattered, patient in possession, ruthless with the two clear chances they created, and untroubled by anything France offered beyond one goalkeeping error deep into the second half. For a France squad that had carried genuine tournament-winning form into the semi-final, the manner of the exit will sting more than the scoreline. A third-place play-off on Saturday is a strange, deflating place for Deschamps to end fourteen years in the job, regardless of how that final match goes. Spain, meanwhile, head into a World Cup final without having been seriously tested by the tournament's other leading contender, and a side unbeaten in 37 matches arriving at a final with margin still in the tank is the kind of detail that should worry whoever they face next.

Sources: Sky Sports.