France - Spain: team form, key players, forecasts
On Tuesday, July 14, the national teams of France and Spain will meet in the first semi-final match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Dallas, USA. The meeting starts at 22:00 Moscow time. The match will be judged by a team of referees led by Ivan Barton from El Salvador. All the details are in the Izvestia article.
The teams' path to the semifinals
Both teams reached the semifinals undefeated in regular time. France, which ranks first in the FIFA rankings, won all six matches at the tournament with a total score of 16.:2. In the group stage, the French defeated Senegal (3:1), Iraq (3:0) and Norway (4:1), then successively passed Sweden (3:0), Paraguay (1:0) in the playoffs and defeated Morocco in the quarterfinals with a score of 2:0.
The Spaniards (second in the FIFA rankings) started with an unexpected draw with the debutants of the Cape Verde tournament (0:0), after which they won five in a row. In the playoffs, the Spaniards defeated Austria (3:0), beat Portugal (1:0) and in the quarterfinals they won 2-1 against Belgium thanks to a goal by Mikel Merino in the 88th minute. In addition, the Spanish national team has not lost in regular time for 36 consecutive matches.
Key figures
The main star of the French is Kylian Mbappe, who is 27 years old. He scored eight goals at the tournament and is competing for the Golden Boot. Mbappe has scored 20 goals in 20 World Cup matches. The head coach of the team, Didier Deschamps, confirmed that the captain is completely healthy after a minor injury in the quarterfinals. Ousmane Dembele, Michael Oliset and Desiree Douai also stand out in the French attack.
Spain's main hope is Lamin Yamal, who turned 19 on July 13. He has already helped Spain beat France in the Euro 2024 semi-finals, and then repeated this in the semi-finals of the League of Nations. The Spaniards rely on ball control, and the midfield is controlled by midfielder Rodri from Manchester City.
The coaches' confrontation
Deschamps called the Spaniards favorites on the eve of the match, noting their reliable defense. At the same time, he also predicted a "spectacular game." Spanish coach Luis de la Fuente, in turn, said that his team intends to play "attacking football" against the tournament favorites and impose their own style. He also called the upcoming match "the final before the final." De la Fuente noted that France has become "much stronger" since their last meetings.
Spain has won the last two matches against France in major tournaments: in the semi-finals of Euro 2024 (2:1) and in the semi-finals of the League of Nations (5:4).
Expert forecasts
According to the Opta supercomputer, France's chances of reaching the finals are 53.96% against 46.04% for Spain. France also holds the lead in the fight for the championship title (34%), followed by Spain (23.4%).
Historical context and minute of silence
France became the third national team in history to reach the semifinals at three consecutive World Cups (2018, 2022, 2026), following Germany and Brazil. If he reaches the finals, Mbappe will become the second player in history, after Brazilian defender Cafu, to play in three decisive World Cup matches in a row. Spain made it to the semi-finals of the World Cup for the first time since 2010.
Before the start of the match, a minute of silence will be held in memory of the victims of the terrorist attack in Nice on July 14, 2016, when a truck drove into a crowd of people watching fireworks. 86 people died and 308 were injured.
What's next
The winner of the semifinal will meet in the final on July 19 at MetLife Stadium in New York with the winner of the England-Argentina pair, whose semifinal will be held on July 15 in Atlanta. The losers in the semifinals will play a match for third place on July 19 in Miami.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
