Before the championship, the prevailing opinion was that France was the first favorite to win the World Cup. Before the semi-finals, it was said that the "tricolors" were the favorites against Spain...
All of this was based on the supersonic attack that the French possess. However, the European champion showed why he is the ruler of the Old Continent. Luis de la Fuente anesthetized the French offensive tonight in Dallas and in the end Spain celebrated, 2:0, and became the first finalist of this year's World Cup.
The "Red Furies" coach continues his incredible streak - this is his eighth knockout match as Spain coach and he has progressed every time.
For the second time in history, the country from the Iberian Peninsula will compete for the "golden goddess". The first time was in 2010 when they lifted it. They will find out their opponent in the title match tomorrow when England and Argentina play their semi-final match (21pm).
On the other hand, the French will play in the third-place match with the loser of that match - Saturday at 23 pm. It will also be the last match in the era of Didier Deschamps, who has been on the bench of the "tricolors" since 2012.
As expected, both teams entered the game cautiously. They were waiting for their opponents to make a mistake, and the Spaniards were the first to make it.
Luka Dinj was very careless in his own penalty area in the 20th minute. Lamin Jamal sneaked up behind him, cleared the ball, and the French defender hit him. Referee Ivan Barton pointed to the white spot without thinking.
Mikel Oyarzabal took the responsibility of taking the penalty and he did it brilliantly. The Spanish striker's surgically precise shot left Mike Magnon no chance, despite the French goalkeeper hitting the side of the net.
Despite the goal, the game didn't open up too much. Fabian Ruiz had the best chance before the 15-minute break between the two halves. In the 38th minute, Dani Olmo and Lamin Jamal played a beautiful double pass on the edge of the penalty area, the 19-year-old crossed in front of the box, where the PSG midfielder was, but his shot was blocked by Dayon Upamecano.
The French were completely asleep in the first half. This is evidenced by the fact that they did not have a single shot on target in the first half of the match.
It was expected that we would see a different face in the second half of the match... Not only did that not happen, but Spain quickly managed to double their lead.
The game was played in the 58th minute, Pedro Poro played towards the edge of the French penalty area where Dani Olmo was, the Barcelona player thought quickly and immediately returned the ball to Poro, who went out alone in front of Menjon and easily defeated him.
In the next attack, the "red fury" were just millimeters away from a third goal. Jamal escaped the French defense and scored a routine goal, however, at the beginning of the action he was slightly offside.
Almost unthinkable for such a good offensive team, but Deschamps' men did not create a chance for almost the entire match. They probably came closest to a goal in the 67th minute when Kylian Mbappe shot from the edge of the penalty area, but his shot was blocked by Mark Kukurela and the ball went just wide of the post.
Ferran Torres could have put an end to the game in the 78th minute, but he shot wide from about five meters. To be honest, it wasn't an easy position for the Barcelona striker.
By the end of the match, the French were only close to a chance once. In the 81st minute, the ball skipped past the Spanish defense, and Mbappe had already dived towards the goal in his own style, but at the right moment, Unai Simon ran out and cleared the ball in front of the Real Madrid attacker. In the ensuing action, Desire Due failed to hit a practically empty net.
There were a few more dangerous attacks by the 2018 world champions towards the end, but Unai Simon's net remained calm - he still only cleared the ball out of the goal once in this championship.
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