Spain to the final after deserved victory over France

Spain proved its worthiness of the title of qualifier for the 2026 World Cup final, after defeating France 2-0 in the semi-final match hosted by Dallas Stadium in Arlington, in a match where the Spanish side dominated the proceedings and managed its details with high professionalism.

Goals and key moments

Mikel Oyarzabal opened the scoring early in the 22nd minute with a penalty that he converted confidently to give Spain the lead. Earlier, France had suffered a double blow; Adrien Rabiot received a yellow card in the 9th minute, and then the French coach was forced to make an early substitution in the 30th minute by bringing on Maxence Lacroix instead of William Saliba, who left the pitch early. In the 31st minute, Marc Cucurella from the Spanish side received a yellow card.

At the end of the first half, France made a second substitution by bringing on Kouadio Koné instead of Rabiot, who completed his role in the 45th minute. In the second half, the second goal came in the 58th minute to close the door on any French comeback, when Pedro Porro scored after a brilliant assist from Dani Olmo, raising the score to 2-0.

Minutes 57 and 72 saw a wave of consecutive French substitutions; Désiré Doué came on instead of Bradley Barcola, then Théo Hernandez instead of Lucas Digne, and Rayan Cherki instead of Michael Olise. In the 83rd minute, Théo Hernandez underwent a VAR review without changing anything in the match. In the 86th minute, Kylian Mbappé received a yellow card in a scene expressing the frustration of the French side.

In contrast, Spain made their substitutions calmly and confidently; Ferrán Torres came on instead of Oyarzabal in the 74th minute, then Mikel Merino instead of Dani Olmo and Pedro González instead of Fabián Ruiz in the 78th minute, before Marcos Llorente came on instead of Pedro Porro and Nico Williams instead of Alejandro Baena in the 84th minute.

Statistics breakdown

Possession: Spain 51% vs France 49%, a close possession but the difference was in utilization.

Total shots: Complete tie with 10 shots each, but Spain made better use of their opportunities.

Shots on target: France 3 vs Spain 2, while Spain scored from two shots.

Goalkeeper saves: Spain's goalkeeper made 3 saves vs 0 for France's goalkeeper.

Corners: France had a big advantage 7-1, but they did not convert that into goals.

Yellow cards: France 2 vs Spain 1.

Man of the match

Pedro Porro was awarded man of the match with a rating of 7.99, after an outstanding performance capped by the decisive goal in the 58th minute with which Spain tightened its grip on the match and closed the door on any French hope of a comeback.

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