Yamal Inspires Spain As France's World Cup Dream Dies in Texas
Yamal Inspires Spain As France's World Cup Dream Dies in Texas
Spain booked their place in the World Cup final with a comfortable 2-0 win over France in Arlington on Monday night, and on this evidence, nobody can begrudge them the trip to MetLife Stadium.
Oyarzabal Penalty Breaks the Deadlock
It took just 22 minutes for Spain to make their dominance count. Lamine Yamal, still only a teenager but playing like a seasoned pro, drew a clumsy foul from Lucas Digne inside the box. Up stepped Mikel Oyarzabal, who sent Mike Maignan the wrong way to slot home his fifth goal of the tournament.
France's night went from bad to worse eight minutes later when William Saliba went down with a back injury and had to be helped off, replaced by Maxence Lacroix. Losing your first-choice centre-back against a side playing with this much confidence is about the worst thing that can happen.
Porro Doubles the Lead
Spain put the game to bed on 58 minutes through Pedro Porro, who linked up sweetly with Dani Olmo down the right before slotting past Maignan with real composure. It came moments after France had shuffled their pack, bringing on Désiré Doué for Bradley Barcola, but the change did nothing to stem the tide.
France huffed and puffed late on — Kylian Mbappé had a free-kick and there were a couple of blocked efforts — but they never really threatened an equaliser. Remarkably, Les Bleus failed to register a single shot on target all night.
The Numbers Tell the Story
Possession was close (France 49% to Spain's 51%), but the underlying numbers paint a one-sided picture. Spain racked up an expected goals tally of around 1.6 to France's 0.3, and created three big chances to France's none. Bookings went the way of Adrien Rabiot, Marc Cucurella and Mbappé among others.
Verdict
This was a midfield masterclass from Spain, who strangled France's supply lines and picked them apart down the right through Yamal and Porro. Rodri marshalled things beautifully from deep, while Didier Deschamps will be left to rue a flat performance from his big names — Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé and Michael Olise were all quiet by their standards, and the Saliba injury only compounded the misery.
Spain, the reigning European champions, now await the winner of England v Argentina in the final on July 19 at MetLife Stadium — and on the strength of this performance, they'll fancy their chances against anyone.
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