A new chapter in old rivalry<\/a><\/p>\nArticle continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Former goalkeeper Iker Casillas, defenders Sergio Ramos and Carles Puyol, and midfielder Xavi\u00a0\u2014 heroes of that South Africa campaign\u00a0\u2014 must have been delighted by the footballing display and ball control shown by their successors in the \u201cLa Roja\u201d squad.<\/p>\n
The tactical setup devised by coach Luis de la Fuente completely stifled the dangerous French attackers. Starved of clear service from midfield, they were left looking like children with no presents on their birthdays.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to describe the feeling right now, but I imagine it must be something akin to happiness. I feel pride in managing such an exceptional group of players. We still want to keep improving; there is one more step to take. We are going to try to achieve it,\u201d de la Fuente said.<\/p>\n
Spain\u2019s pressing game at times suffocated the 2022 World Cup runners-up, who rarely found a good outlet for the ball. Michael Olise\u00a0\u2014 the key playmaker who had made the difference leading up to the semifinal\u00a0\u2014 barely managed to get into the game. Kylian Mbapp\u00e9\u00a0\u2014 with eight goals, one of the tournament\u2019s top scorers alongside Argentina\u2019s Lionel Messi\u00a0\u2014 and Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 found themselves even more isolated.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Mbapp\u00e9, 27, ended the tournament one goal shy of the Argentine captain\u2019s record of 21 in World Cup history.<\/p>\n
In a first half featuring few dangerous chances, left back Lucas Digne made a clumsy attempt to clear the ball inside his own penalty area just as young forward Lamine Yamal charged in from the right flank to meet it. Salvadoran referee Iv\u00e1n Barton awarded a penalty, and Oyarzabal struck a powerful, confident left-footed shot past goalkeeper Mike Maignan to open the scoring.<\/p>\n
Spain\u2019s dominance grew in the second half. Although the final possession statistics were relatively close\u00a0\u2014 51% for Spain and 49% for France\u00a0\u2014 the real difference was in what the teams did with the ball: The reigning European champions completed 487 passes compared with France\u2019s 408.<\/p>\n
Rodri, who had delivered excellent performances throughout the tournament, once again commanded the midfield. He was supported by a solid defense\u00a0\u2014 featuring a superlative display from Pau Cubars\u00ed\u00a0\u2014 and by Fabi\u00e1n Ruiz and Dani Olmo, who constantly moved and rotated to keep the ball circulating.<\/p>\n
The second goal arrived just as France was beginning to feel the pressure of the scoreline. Porro surged up the right flank and played a low pass to Olmo, who returned the ball into open space\u00a0\u2014 a perfectly executed one-two, even as the skillful midfielder was brought down by defender Dayot Upamecano. Porro finished calmly past an overwhelmed Maignan, and Spain, maintaining control, effectively sealed the match.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
There was still time for a Yamal goal to be disallowed for offside, followed by increasingly desperate attempts from Didier Deschamps\u2019 team. However, they failed to truly trouble the reliable Unai Sim\u00f3n\u00a0\u2014 another standout performer who has conceded only one goal throughout the entire tournament.<\/p>\n
Spain left the pitch celebrating with its supporters, satisfied that it had accomplished its mission. It has already become a thorn in France\u2019s side in decisive matches and now confidently awaits the winner of the Argentina-England game.<\/p>\n
\u201cReaching the World Cup final is a tremendous responsibility,\u201d de la Fuente said. \u201cIt\u2019s a privilege\u00a0\u2014 something reserved for the chosen few. You have to let it all sink in. Thinking back to when we started four years ago with a vision\u2026 We\u2019ve stayed true to it, and it has brought us this far. I\u2019m proud.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spain’s Pedro Porro reacts after scoring his side’s second goal during the World Cup semifinal soccer match between…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373289,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151],"class_list":["post-373334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arlington","tag-arlington","tag-arlington-headlines","tag-arlington-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}