{"id":799162,"date":"2026-07-14T06:28:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T06:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/799162\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T06:28:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T06:28:13","slug":"world-cup-2026-kylian-mbappe-lamine-yamal-headline-star-packed-spain-v-france-semi-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/799162\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup 2026: Kylian Mbappe, Lamine Yamal headline star-packed Spain v France semi-final"},"content":{"rendered":"

July 14, 2026 \u2014 11:33am<\/p>\n

Save<\/p>\n

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n

Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n

AAA<\/p>\n

Spain and France both feel that the winner of their semi-final on Tuesday (Wednesday 5am, AEST) will go on to claim the World Cup.<\/p>\n

England and Argentina, who meet in the other semi-final in Atlanta on Wednesday, would disagree, but as Spanish coach Luis de la Fuente said of their showdown in Texas: \u201cIt\u2019s not an exaggeration to describe this match as a final before the final.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"KylianKylian Mbappe during France\u2019s training session ahead of their match against Spain.Getty Images<\/p>\n

France are the top-ranked team in the FIFA rankings, while Spain are No.3. With Argentina ranked second and England fourth, this marks the first time the top four teams have reached the last four.<\/p>\n

With a spot in Sunday\u2019s final in New Jersey on the line, Spain have been playing up a psychological advantage over the favoured Les Bleus, having defeated them in their last two meetings in semifinals – the 2025 Nations League (5-4) and the 2024 European Championship (2-1), in which Spain won the title.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrance are one of the best teams here, in great form, but so are we,\u201d Spain midfielder Rodri said. \u201cWe can beat them. We\u2019ve seen that at the Euros and in the Nations League.\u201d<\/p>\n

French midfielder Kylian Mbappe, who missed parts of France\u2019s final training session as he battles the ankle injury he picked up in his nation\u2019s quarter-final win over Morocco, knows that, as the tournament favourite, the pressure is on to become the third nation to reach three consecutive finals.<\/p>\n

\"LamineLamine Yamal will be a key man for Spain in their battle with France.Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if I\u2019d call it a \u2018mission,\u2019 but we all know we can only relax if we win it,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can\u2019t let our guard down until then. We still have a lot to prove if we want to be recognised as an \u2018invincible team.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

France won their second World Cup in 2018 before losing on penalties to Argentina four years ago in Qatar. Spain\u2019s lone title was in 2010, but they enter on a 36-match unbeaten streak (27 wins, nine draws) – one shy of tying Italy\u2019s record – dating back to a loss to Colombia in March 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrance will probably be our toughest test,\u201d Rodri said. \u201cWe\u2019re highly motivated and determined to win the (title). We have to play to our strengths. France are a great side, but so are we.\u201d<\/p>\n

The star-studded match-up features Mbappe and Spain forward Lamine Yamal, who turned 19 on Monday.<\/p>\n

\"OusmaneOusmane Dembele will be a key man for France when they take on Spain.Getty Images<\/p>\n

Mbappe and Lionel Messi of Argentina are tied for the Golden Boot with eight goals each, but Mbappe owns the tiebreaker because he has more assists, three to Messi\u2019s two. Mbappe\u2019s 20 World Cup goals are one behind Messi\u2019s all-time record of 21.<\/p>\n

With Norway\u2019s Erling Haaland (seven goals) out of the tournament, England\u2019s Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham still have a chance with six goals apiece, while France\u2019s Ousmane Dembele has five.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

With that much firepower on the French side, it\u2019s no surprise that Michael Olise leads the tournament with five assists.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"An<\/a><\/p>\n

Mikel Oyarzabal tops Spain with four goals, and Mikel Merino has been sensational off the bench with late winners in the past two matches.<\/p>\n

But the attention will be on Yamal, whose only goal of the tournament came in the group stage against Saudi Arabia on June 21. Still, he was named player of the match in the 2-1 win over Belgium in the quarterfinals for his ball distribution and piercing runs that produced several near-goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we win the World Cup, I think nobody will remember how many goals I scored or how many I didn\u2019t,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we win, we\u2019ll all be happy, that\u2019s all I want.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, France coach Didier Deschamps downplayed the decision to rest Mbappe from parts of France\u2019s Monday training session.<\/p>\n

\u201cKylian is fine,\u201d France coach Didier Deschamps told reporters.<\/p>\n

Asked if Mbappe had trained, he added: \u201cYes, he trained. He is allowed to do 10 minutes in one drill instead of 15.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reuters<\/p>\n

Save<\/p>\n

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n

Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n

From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"July 14, 2026 \u2014 11:33am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":799163,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-799162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=799162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/799163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=799162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=799162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=799162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}