A pair of goals and stellar defense and goaltending by Spain were too much for high-flying France to overcome, ending Les Bleus’ run for a third consecutive appearance in the World Cup final.
In the 58th minute, Pedro Porro collected on a give-and-go after teammate Dani Olmo one-touched the ball to him as he was falling to the ground. Porro was all alone in a pocket right in front of the net and beat French goalkeeper Mike Maignan with a right-footed laser to the lower right corner.
Spain’s Mikel Oyarzabal scored first on a penalty kick in the 21st minute, sending the ball with his left foot to the lower right corner of the goal.
Spain, which had allowed only one goal in six games this tournament, did well to contain French star Kylian Mbappé. The left winger received a long ball from Ousmane Dembélé and made his way toward the center of the goal, but three Spanish defenders were able to get in front of him before he could shoot.
At the first half hydration break, both teams were fairly even in terms of possession and offensive chances, but France hurt itself with three fouls, a yellow card, and the penalty.
Ahead of Oyarzabal’s conversion, French defender Lucas Digne made a clumsy challenge on Lamine Yamal, attempting to clear the bouncing ball and kicking his opponent instead.
To make matters worse for France, defender William Saliba had to be subbed out in the first half because of an injury, and midfielder Adrien Rabiot was replaced ahead of the second half after he received a yellow card.
It was the first time in the tournament that France trailed its opponent. It was also the first goal Les Bleus conceded in the knockout rounds.
France had several chances. Mbappé fired a hard, low shot just wide in the 67th minute. The squad had solid spells of possession in and around Spain’s penalty box early in the second half but rarely was afforded a clean look for a shot.
In the 82nd minute, Spanish goalkeeper Unai Simón was caught far in front of his goal following a turnover. French substitute Désiré Doué saw the gap and fired a shot, but Simón faced the shot at the correct angle instead of backing up and made the save.
Seconds later, France substitute Théo Hernandez dribbled deep into the goal area to face Simón one-on-one, but the goalkeeper dove headfirst and grabbed the ball before the attacker could get a shot or pass off.
In the 88th minute, Mbappé’s free kick from a left-sided spot just outside the penalty box curled high and wide.
Dembélé had two shots in stoppage time, but Simón was equal to them.
Even though France has won two World Cups (1998 and 2018) compared to Spain’s one (2010), no team has beaten France more in the past 20 years of international competitions, including the European Cup tournament, than Spain.
Yamal, who just turned 19, has yet to score his first World Cup goal. He had multiple chances close to the goal, but was either muscled off the ball, fouled, or ruled offside.
Spanish defender Pedro Porro celebrated his team’s semifinal win as “a dream come true.”
“I think that we did such an amazing game,” he told Fox Sports after the match. “We gave it our all in order just to go through to the final. We knew we are a very tough team, that we’re doing things really well, and this is our team.”
Porro secured the second goal for Spain’s 2–0 victory.
“The Spanish team did master their plan,” he told a FIFA reporter after the match.
France substitute Rayan Cherki told a FIFA reporter that “we should have done better, which we didn’t today.”
Oyarzabal, who scored Spain’s first goal, said it was difficult to describe the joy of winning this match and moving on to the finals.
“As a child, you can’t even dream about these things,” he told a FIFA reporter after the match.
Spain Coach Luis de la Fuente commended his players’ attitude, effort, talent, and sacrifice.
“I’m always surprised of what this team manages to do,” he said during the post-game press conference.
“It was all planned for us to reach this key moment in the best shape possible.”
