Mbappé’s France vs Yamal’s Spain: Unbeaten sides clash in World Cup semi-final in Dallas
ARLINGTON, TEXAS: Kylian Mbappé and France have not trailed at any point in this year’s World Cup. Neither has Spain, led by teenage sensation Lamine Yamal and clutch substitute Mikel Merino. Only one of those teams can reach the final. France and Spain, both appearing at their 17th World Cup, have met only once previously on football’s biggest stage. They meet on Tuesday at the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys in the first of two powerhouse semi-final matches.
After entering the tournament as FIFA’s top-ranked side, France have outscored 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 World Cup total of 21. “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 characterised us since the beginning of the competition.” The 27-year-old Mbappé has 20 goals in 20 World Cup matches, including one in the 2018 win over Croatia when he joined Pelé as the only teenager to score in a World Cup final. Coach Didier Deschamps said Mbappé is fine physically after leaving in the 77th minute of Les Bleus’ quarter-final win over Morocco, having scored in that game.
Yamal, who turned 19 on Monday, has already been part of two semi-final wins over France with Spain. He was days shy of his 17th birthday when he scored in a 2–1 win during the 2024 European Championship semi-finals, 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 quarter-final victory over Belgium. “We were the ones that knocked them out before.” The teenager has one goal and 10 shots on target in this tournament after arriving still nursing a left hamstring issue; he missed the final weeks of the season for Barcelona. “It’s the most important match I’m going to play,” Yamal said on Monday, adding that his best birthday present would be a victory and a trip to the final. “We are all so excited, especially me.”
France defender Jules Koundé, who also plays for Barcelona, said he knows Yamal well and did not 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 have outscored opponents 10–1 since a scoreless draw with surprising Cape Verde to open group play, but La Roja have relied on late decisive goals from Merino as a substitute in the past two games. Goalkeeper Unai Simón set a World Cup record of 650 minutes without conceding until Belgium scored in the 41st minute of their quarter-final. “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 Álex Baena said, adding that with more matches and training “the better the team has been.” Merino scored in the 88th minute for the 2–1 win over Belgium on Friday. That followed his 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 semi-final will be played.
Quartet of past champions
This is the first World Cup since 1990 in which all four semi-finalists are former champions. Lionel Messi and defending champions Argentina, who beat France for the title in 2022, play England in the other semi-final on Wednesday in Atlanta. The final is on Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. A third-place play-off will be held on 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 in 2010 and France in 2018. France, who will be playing on their country’s Bastille Day national holiday, are attempting to join five-time champions Brazil and four-time winners Germany as the only teams to reach three consecutive World Cup finals. Brazil did so in 1994, 1998 and 2002 — winning two titles and losing to host France in the middle of that run. Germany’s 1990 championship came after being runners-up in the previous two World Cups, all competing as West Germany at the time. Argentina beat France on penalties in 2022 after a 3–3 draw. This is France’s seventh semi-final appearance and their fifth in the last eight World Cups. Spain’s only other semi-finals were in 1950 and 2010, the latter on their way to the title.
Wrapping up in Dallas
AT&T Stadium in North Texas will host its tournament-high ninth game. In the one-month run there have been several superstar moments in the building that has staged 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, he broke the World Cup career scoring record 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 on June 27 against Jordan. Cristiano Ronaldo, the 41-year-old Portuguese superstar, finished his sixth and final World Cup in the 1–0 round-of-16 loss to Spain on July 6.
(With inputs from RSS/AP)
