European champions Spain secured a dominant 2-0 victory over France in Dallas to book their place in the World Cup 2026 final.
Mikel Oyarzabal opened the scoring from the penalty spot before Pedro Porro doubled the advantage with a composed finish as France – 2018 winners and 2022 runners-up – were simply outclassed.
Spain will now face either England or Argentina in Sunday’s final, which takes place in New Jersey, while France’s campaign ends with a third-place play-off in Miami.
Spain the best team
After the game, Spain head coach Luis de la Fuente told reporters: “We started almost four years ago with an idea and we’ve been faithful to that idea and it’s brought us here.
“We faced one of the best national teams in the world, but in front of them, they had the best team in the world. That is different.
“These players deserve everything – day after day, they’ve shown their commitment, their solidarity, their generosity, their talent.
“They make the difficult look easy.”
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Deschamps rues technical errors
France boss Didier Deschamps, meanwhile, pointed to costly technical errors as a reason for his team’s loss.
In the post-match press conference, he said: “The players are devastated because we had high ambitions, even though we have to admit that we were a notch below our usual level technically, facing a team that really had a handle on the game.
“It’s primarily our own fault.
“We fell short and weren’t as dangerous in attack as we could have been, making a few technical errors on passes that might have led to scoring chances.
“That’s the reality of the elite level, even if it hurts.”
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Mbappé criticises French tactics
A disappointed Mbappé added: “We were three against two in midfield and against Spain that’s hard.
“There was a lack of communication on the press – we should have done man-to-man press and forced them to run with us.
“When you don’t do what you have to do in a World Cup semi-final, you don’t win.
“Spain respected their gameplan and what the team usually does. They are better than us at controlling a game.
“We didn’t manage to do it. We were too sloppy technically. We could not hurt them when we could have.”
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SportJustSport writers 
Aidan Leo