Spain advanced to the 2026 FIFA World Cup final after beating France 2-0 on Tuesday night in Dallas. In the final match, the Spanish national team will meet the winner of the match between England and Argentina scheduled for Wednesday.
Spain secured their spot in the final round of the 2026 FIFA World Cup after beating France 2-0 on Tuesday night in Dallas. Oyarzabal scored the first goal from a penalty kick in the 22nd minute, and Pedro Porro added the second goal in the 58th minute.
France could become the third team in World Cup history to reach three consecutive finals, after Germany (1982, 1986, 1990) and Brazil (1994, 1998, 2002). But she failed and lost to a stronger and better opponent than her, so La Roja reached the second final in its history without trepidation.
On the other hand, Spain reached the final for the second time in their history after 2010, when they won the title against the Netherlands 1-0.
World Cup 2026: news, results and analysis
FIFA World Cup 2026 © Graphic studio France Média Monde
There were two changes to the Roosters’ starting XI from the one that played against Morocco in the quarter-finals, with midfielder Aurélien Chouamini returning to his place after missing the Roosters’ last two matches against Paraguay (1-0) and Atlas Lions (2-0) to be at the front of the defense alongside Adrien Rabiot, with Michael Olise as an attacking midfielder behind the attacking trio. (Mbappe-Dembele-Barcola).
The team also included Bradley Barkula, who started in place of his Paris Saint-Germain teammate Désiré Douhet. Coach Didier Deschamps relied on Barcola’s speed rather than Douai’s technical skills in tight spaces. The defense remained unchanged, with the Conde-Upamecano-Saliba-Digne quartet.
It became clear that the confrontation would be balanced
For their part, Spain entered the starting line-up in which they started the match with Belgium (2-1), with midfielder Pedri on the bench, Fabian Reus in the starting lineup along with Rodrigo and Alex Baena, and Dani Olmo playing the link between the three lines.
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He entered the attack with Lamin Yamal, who celebrated his nineteenth birthday together with Mikel Oyarzabal.
After the whistle from Salvadoran referee Ivan Barton, it became clear that the confrontation would be balanced between two teams that love pure attacking play and are not focused on defense.
Didier Deschamps and Kylian Mbappe were disappointed by their defeat to Spain in the World Cup semi-finals. July 14, 2026 © AFP
After a pulse-check period, Adrien Rabiot took the ball away from the Spanish forwards and Mbappe launched a counter-attack and passed to Luca Digne on the left flank. He made a wonderful pass to Barcola and the striker went around the ball and tried to pass the ball to Mbappe in the middle of the attack, but the Spanish defense intervened and thwarted the first opportunity of the match.
Defender Luca Digne’s mistake whets Spain’s appetite
La Roja responded with a group strike, during which they received a free kick on the outskirts of the penalty area, and Baena took it, but the defense blocked it before Yamal prepared the ball, got rid of Dini on the right flank and shot past his teammates.
In the 16th minute, the French launched a quick counterattack through Mbappe after a pass from Jules Kounde. He advanced and passed to Dembele, but eventually the Spanish players squeezed into their area and were able to win the ball back.
With the two teams playing equally, left back Luca Dini committed a clear foul on Yamal in the penalty area, and referee Ivan Barton from El Salvador awarded a penalty, which Oyarzabal converted into the best goal in the twentieth minute.
Painful blow to France
France, who found themselves trailing for the first time since the tournament began, were dealt a painful blow when their defender William Saliba left the team due to injury, so Wolfsburg’s Maxon Lacroix came on in his place.
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Spain remained cohesive and organized and continued to create dangerous opportunities, although France were also moving, but they seemed confused and made straight mistakes due to constant pressure from the Spanish until Fabian Reus came close to scoring a second goal in the 38th minute after goalkeeper Mike Mignon passed to Alex Baena, so he passed the ball to Yamal, who in turn passed to Reus before the centre-back intervened Dayot Upamecano cleared the ball for a corner kick.
With the Spanish midfield dominating and his team lagging behind in the score, Deschamps made a change at the start of the second stage: Rabiot was replaced by Manu Kone (a player from the Italian Roma). But the Spanish dominance continued and intensified, with Mbappe and his team-mates failing to confuse their opponents and not even getting close to goalkeeper Unai Simon.
Deschamps found no changes.
This is what prompted Deschamps to replace Douai in Barcola’s place. But that didn’t stop his team from conceding a second goal in the 58th minute after a well-coordinated group effort that ended with an exchange between defender Pedro Porro and his teammate Dani Olmo, so that the English Tottenham player fired into the corner of goalkeeper Mignon.
France’s task was difficult, but Spain seemed well on its way to the final. A testament to the French players’ inability to threaten the Spanish goal was the fact that Kylian Mbappe did not appear until the 66th minute, when he fired hard into the box and Cucurrea turned it into a corner that yielded no result.
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Deschamps was forced to change players after the second cool-down break, with Ryan Sargui replacing Olise and Theo Hernandez replacing Luca Digne. As for the coach of the Spanish national team, he decided to rest Oyarzabal, Olmo and Ruiz, replacing them with Barcelona strikers Ferran Torres, Mikel Moreno (Arsenal) and Pedri (Barcelona).
France had a good chance in the 80th minute when Chergui played a deep pass to Mbappe, so goalkeeper Simon intervened, but Douy collected the ball and fired through the defense to no avail.
But in the final, despite several late attempts from Mbappe, Dembele and Doyne, Spain managed to keep a clean sheet until the Salvadoran referee whistled.
Bonus Meziani
Return to live broadcast
07.14.2026 – 23:02
End of live broadcast, thanks for watching. See you tomorrow at the upcoming summit between Argentina and England.
07.14.2026 – 23:00
07.14.2026 – 22:59
Completion of the match with a victory for the Spaniards ends the journey of the Blues
The match referee announces the end of the second half and the match, which Spain will win and advance to the World Cup final, where they will meet the winner of the match between England and Argentina.
07.14.2026 – 22:58
Spanish onslaught and continuous attacks until the last breath of the match. France recognizes the fait accompli and the streets of Madrid are preparing to celebrate.
07.14.2026 – 22:56
A dangerous attempt by the Spaniards ended just wide of the post
07.14.2026 – 22:55
“Red Armada” defeats “Blue Wave”
07.14.2026 – 22:54
French attempts failed to find a solution
07.14.2026 – 22:53
End of regular time of the match. The referee counts 7 minutes as reserve time.
07.14.2026 – 22:52
Dembélé came forward and took the corner
07.14.2026 – 22:50
The ball went over Simon’s goal
07.14.2026 – 22:50
Free kick in a dangerous area for France by Mbappe
07.14.2026 – 22:49
Attendance at the match reached 70,176 spectators.
07.14.2026 – 22:48
Mbappe’s strong attack on goalkeeper Simon cost him a yellow card
07.14.2026 – 22:47
07.14.2026 – 22:46
Violation committed by Torres
07.14.2026 – 22:46
Baena exits and Williams enters.
07.14.2026 – 22:46
Marcos Llorente replaces Pedro Porro.
07.14.2026 – 22:43
Douai misses an opportunity after the goalkeeper advances and leaves the goal
07.14.2026 – 22:42
Torres misses opportunity to score third goal
A dangerous header from Torres from a cross that went just wide of the left post.
07.14.2026 – 22:41