In an exciting match, the Spanish team, led by Mikel Oyarzabal and Pedro Porro, achieved a historic qualification to the 2026 World Cup final by beating France 2-0, one of the strongest rivals in the tournament.
With this result, Luis de la Fuente’s team will compete in the second World Cup final in its history. The first was in 2010, when they became champions by defeating the Netherlands.
However, France’s elimination took everyone by surprise, not only because it was one of the candidates to win the World Cup, but also because of the performance it showed during the match against Spain.
The lack of ideas, the few scoring opportunities and the absence of important figures such as Dembelé, Olise, Barcola, Doue and Mbappé only caused disappointment among French fans.
After the game, France coach Didier Deschamps showed his annoyance at the refereeing decisions and the general level of his team.
It was striking that the coach said that the referee “was not up to par with the match.”
“The refereeing? If I say something, I will look like a crybaby because we lost. But I ask you if the referee was up to the task of refereeing a semifinal. There is the penalty, but it’s not just that, everything else is added,” Deschamps said.
However, the coach accepted that, in general terms, France was “far below” Spain.
“The players are devastated, but we have to be consistent, we were technically inferior. The main reason for the defeat is that we simply were not up to the task, with some technical errors, passes that could have generated chances,” said the coach, as compiled by the newspaper ACE.
He also gave credit to Spain’s game: “We didn’t achieve it, the disappointment is great. But I don’t take away from all the good things we did. I think we recovered very well… I don’t take away from the Spanish team, which controlled the match.”
Now, Spain will wait for the winner of the match between Argentina and England to meet its rival in the World Cup final, on July 19.