Spain are through to the World Cup final after surprising favourites France with a convincing semi-final victory at Dallas Stadium.
Luis de la Fuente’s side blunted a France team brimming with attacking talent, controlled a game of few chances and will deservedly take their place in Sunday’s showpiece thanks to goals from Mikel Oyarzabal and Pedro Porro.
Oyarzabal opened the scoring from the penalty spot midway through the first half after a lapse from France left-back Lucas Digne resulted in him giving forward Lamine Yamal an unceremonious wallop as he tried to clear the ball.
The spot-kick was confidently thumped into the corner by Oyarzabal and with a lead to defend, Spain’s control of the match only grew.
After a below-par first-half, France were expected to come out fighting but it was an increasingly confident Spain who seized the upper hand once more as Porro played a lovely one-two with Dani Olmo before slotting in the second at the near post.
With a little more than half an hour to save themselves, France were again thwarted in their attempts to break down an incredibly disciplined Spain outfit, who have conceded just once all tournament.
Spain remained calm, composed and full of class to the end and, ultimately, saw the game out comfortably.
For France, their hopes of making a third final in succession are over as they go into Saturday’s third-place play-off, which will represent the end of an era – with coach Didier Deschamps departing at the end of the tournament after 14 years at the helm.
Meanwhile, Spain will now travel to New Jersey, where they will await the winners of Wednesday’s second semi-final between England and Argentina, as they bid to win the World Cup for just the second time.
BBC
