In the end, the third time was not a charm for France.
Spain beat France 2-0 in their FIFA World Cup semifinal in Arlington, Texas, on Tuesday to make it three wins in a row against their European heavyweight rival having beaten Les Bleus in the 2024 European Championship semifinals and the UEFA Nations League semifinals in 2025.
A first-half penalty from Mikel Oyarzabal and an early second-half strike by Pedro Porro staked Spain to a 2-0 lead as they played a near-perfect match against France to advance to a final against England or Argentina on July 19 in East Rutherford.
Trailing 1-0 at AT&T Stadium after the Oyarzabal converted a penalty following a foul on Lamine Yamal in the area, France took another hit when centre-back William Saliba was forced off with a back injury in the 30th minute and replaced by Crystal Palace defender Maxence Lacroix.
The European Champions looked like a well-oiled machine as they were strong in possession of the ball and did a great job of limiting the impact of France stars Michael Olise, Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé to take a 1-0 lead into the break.
France were up against history as they returned for the second half with only two teams having ever advanced in a World Cup semifinal after trailing at half-time: Argentina vs. Italy in 1990 and Croatia overcoming England in 2018.
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Deschamps rang the changes at half-time, bringing on Manu Koné for Adrien Rabiot to star the second half and Désiré Doué for Bradley Barcola soon after that.
Despite the new faces, it was the same story for France, who continued to be frustrated by Spain’s pressing all over the field and by some key saves from Unai Simón in the La Roja net.
Bad went to worse for France when Porro broke free of his marker on a smooth team move from Spain and finished past Mike Maignan to make it 2-0.
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Spain were able to see out the win and draw level with Italy for the most consecutive games without a loss at 37 and the nation’s second trip to a World Cup final to boot.
Information from The Associated Press and ESPN Global Research was used in this report.
