Neither France Nor Spain Has Trailed At This Year’s World Cup, But Only One Can Reach The Final

Kylian Mbappé and France haven’t trailed at all in this year’s World Cup. Neither has Spain with teenage sensation Lamine Yamal and clutch goal-scoring substitute Mikel Merino.

Only one of those teams can make it to the final.

France and Spain, both at their 17th World Cup, have met only once previously on soccer’s biggest stage. They play Tuesday at the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys in the first of two powerhouse semifinal matches.

After entering this tournament as FIFA’s top-ranked team, France has outscored its opponents 14-2. Mbappé, the 2022 Golden Boot winner, has eight goals to match Lionel Messi for the scoring lead this time, and is one behind the Argentina captain’s career record of 21 at the World Cup.

“We are confident, of course, with the course we have done so far, and we have to be,” France midfielder Adrien Rabiot said. “But always with this humility that has characterized us since the beginning of the competition.”

The 27-year-old Mbappé has 20 goals in his 20 World Cup matches, including one in the 2018 win over Croatia when he joined Pele as the only teenagers to score in a World Cup final. Coach Didier Deschamps said Mbappé is fine physically after exiting in the 77th minute of Les Bleus’ quarterfinal win over Morocco after scoring a goal.

Yamal, who turned 19 on Monday, has already been part of two semifinal wins with Spain over France. He was just days shy of his 17th birthday when he scored in a 2-1 win during the 2024 European Championship semifinals, and Spain won 5-4 in Nations League play last year.

“I believe if France has to fear anyone, it should be us, in my opinion,” Yamal said after Spain’s quarterfinal victory over Belgium. “We were the ones that knocked them out before.”

The teen has only one goal while putting 10 shots on target after coming into this World Cup still nursing a left hamstring issue. He missed the final weeks of the season for Spanish club Barcelona.

“It’s the most important match I’m going to play,” Yamal said Monday, adding his best birthday gift would be a victory and trip to the final. “We are all so excited, especially me.”

France defender Jules Koundé also plays for Barcelona, so he knows Yamal well and didn’t feel disrespected by the earlier comments.

“He always does it with (Barcelona). He trusts a lot in his virtues, in the virtues of the team where he plays,” Koundé said in translated remarks. “An extra motivation for him and that’s it, that’s all.”

Spain has outscored opponents 10-1 since a scoreless draw against surprising Cape Verde to open group play, but La Roja got late decisive goals from Merino as a late substitute in the past two games. And goaltender Unai Simón set a World Cup record of 650 minutes without allowing a goal until Belgium scored in the 41st minute of their quarterfinal game.

“I think that from the first game until today, the team needed to catch the rhythm, we had been without seeing each other for a long time,” Spain midfielder Alex Baena said, adding that with more games and practices “the better the team has been.”

Merino scored in the 88th minute for that 2-1 win over Belgium on Friday. That came after the Arsenal forward’s goal in the first minute of second-half stoppage time for the 1-0 win over Portugal in the round of 16 at the same stadium where Spain’s semifinal match will be played.

Quartet of past champions
This is the first World Cup since 1990 that each of the final four teams are former champions.

Messi and defending champion Argentina, which beat France for the title in 2022, play England in the other semifinal match Wednesday in Atlanta.

The championship match is Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, across the river from New York City. A third-place game will be played Saturday in Miami Gardens, Florida.

Both have raised World Cup trophy since they last met in the tourney

In their only previous World Cup meeting, France beat Spain 3-1 in a round of 16 game at the 2006 tournament in Germany.

Both teams have won the World Cup since then. Spain claimed its only title in 2010, and France won its second World Cup in 2018.

France, which will be playing on its country’s Bastille Day national holiday, is trying to join five-time champion Brazil and four-time winner Germany as the only teams to make three consecutive World Cup finals.

Brazil did it in 1994, 1998 and 2002 — winning two titles and losing to host France in the middle of that run. Germany’s championship in 1990 came after being runner-up in the previous two World Cups — all playing as West Germany at the time.

Argentina beat France in a penalty shootout in 2022 after playing to a 3-3 draw.

This is France’s seventh semifinal appearance, its fifth in the last eight World Cups. Spain’s only other semifinals were in 1950 and then 2010 on the way to the title.

Wrapping up in Dallas
AT&T Stadium in North Texas will be hosting its tournament-high ninth game, and in that one-month run there have been some soccer superstar moments in the building that has hosted a Super Bowl and NCAA championship games for football and men’s basketball.

Messi scored three goals in Argentina’s two group games, the first on June 22 when after missing a penalty kick he broke the World Cup career scoring mark with the first of his two goals in a 2-0 win over Austria. He added another goal as a late substitute in the group finale June 27 against Jordan.

Cristiano Ronaldo, the 41-year-old superstar from Portugal, finished his sixth and final World Cup in the 1-0 round of 16 loss to Spain on July 6.
-AP