FIFA World Cup banners hang on AT&T Stadium on June 14 in Arlington.
The Spanish national football team is set to play the French national football team in the semifinals of the FIFA World Cup at 2 p.m. Tuesday at AT&T Stadium, called Dallas Stadium during the tournament.
France and Spain are respectively No. 1 and 3 in the FIFA national team rankings, and are considered favorites to win the World Cup.
The two squads faced off in the semifinals of the 2024 UEFA European Championship. Spain won that matchup and would go on to win the tournament with a 2-1 victory over England.
In the World Cup, France has made it to the finals of each of the last two tournaments. The team won the 2018 final 4-2 over Croatia and lost the 2022 finals to Argentina on penalties.
Spain, meanwhile, hasn’t reached the semifinals since its 2010 World Cup title run.
Both teams enter Arlington unbeaten. France went 3-0 in the group stage, beating Senegal 3-1, Iraq 3-0 and Norway 4-1. The French won Group I with nine points, a mark only Mexico and Argentina could tie.
Les Bleus have not allowed a single goal in the knockout stage yet, after shutting out Sweden 3-0 in the Round of 32, Paraguay 1-0 in the Round of 16 and Morocco 2-0 in the quarterfinals.
The Spanish have not been as perfect as the French. Spain opened the tournament with a scoreless draw to Cabo Verde, then beat Saudi Arabia 4-0 and Uruguay 1-0, winning Group H without letting up a goal.
La Roja made the knockout stage by beating Austria 3-0 in the Round of 32, defeating Portugal 1-0 in the Round of 16 in Arlington and taking down Belgium 2-1 in the quarterfinals.
As a combined team, France has the second-most goals scored in the tournament so far, knocking 16 into the net. Les Bleus lead in assists, shots on goal and shots outside the penalty area, and are second in shots and expected goals.
Comparatively, Spain leads the tournament in possession control, holding the ball for 60% of its games, and in off-target attempts with 47. La Roja also places second in shots outside the penalty area, corners and expected goals, and third in shots and shots on target.
French forward Kylian Mbappe is tied for the tournament lead in goals, with eight. Mbappe is also in the top two in the World Cup in shots, shots on target and shots inside the penalty area. One of his teammates, forward Michael Olise, has the assists lead, with five.
The top goal-scorer for Spain is forward Mikel Oyarzabal, with four goals. Oyarzabal and Spanish forward Lamine Yamal are tied for seventh in the tournament for shots on target.
Spain is also one of the highest-passing teams in the tournament, with Spaniards taking up the top three spots on the passing leaderboard. Defensively, Oyarzabal and Spanish midfielder Pedri González are second and third in forced turnovers.
@TyRoland06