In what was billed as a blockbuster between arguably the two best teams in the world, Spain defeated France 2-0 in a surprisingly convincing fashion. Spain took advantage of French mistakes, used slick passing to maintain possession, and pressed relentlessly to down the French at Atlanta Stadium.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Spain was in control from the opening whistle and scored first through a penalty that was converted by Mikel Oyarzabal in the 22nd minute. Then in the second half, right back Pedro Porro found an opening to move into the box and beat Mike Maignan.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The results for Spain under head coach Luis de la Fuente are phenomenal. The team has not lost a game in its two major tournaments. At Euro 2024, Spain won all seven of its game en route to the title. At this World Cup, Spain has won six games and drew once (take a bow Cape Verde).\u00a0<\/p>\n
Spain now enters Sunday\u2019s final as the favorite.<\/p>\n
From the opening whistle, it was clear that France was in for a far different test than anything else it has faced at this World Cup. Spain is always an excellent possession-based team that can make its opponents chase the game for long stretches due to its passing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
France knew what it was going to face. Spain defeated France each of the three times the teams played this current decade. First was a 2-1 win in the Nations League final in 2021. Then it was a 2-1 win in the semifinals of Euro 2024. Then last year in the Nations League semifinal, Spain won a wild 5-4 decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Entering this game, France had a lot of momentum with both Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 and Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 scoring and assisting in droves. On top of that, Michael Olise was the tournament\u2019s most impactful midfielder.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the story of this game is how France was so overwhelmed when it could not maintain possession or handle the press. France was clearly frustrated chasing the game as much as it did. It could not focus and play to its strengths and get the ball to Mbapp\u00e9 or Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 in dangerous areas.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Spain played its system to perfection. On both sides of the ball, the entire team was perfectly in synch with each other.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Offensively, Yamal was a nightmare for France even if he did not score. Both goals originated from his side of the field. He had a goal called back on a close offside, and he demanded a lot of respect.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Defensively, Spain again showed why they so difficult to score. Spanish defenders were always shutting down passing lanes and forcing turnovers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was a double-edged sword. Spain was brilliant but France also lacked the resolve to figure out solutions. Les Bleus became frustrated and let Spain do whatever they wanted.\u00a0<\/p>\n
(Photo by Marvin Ibo Guengoer – GES Sportfoto\/Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n The biggest strengths for Spain was its spine, specifically its central defender pairing and central midfield pairing. In the midfield, Rodri and Fabian Ruiz were excellent at winning and maintaining possession. The chemistry they displayed on both sides of the ball was on another level.<\/p>\n Rodi was the best player on the field in this game. He was everywhere on both sides of the ball. He won 7\/11 of his ground duels. He won 4\/4 of his aerials. He drew three fouls.\u00a0<\/p>\n In central defense, Pau Cubars\u00ed and Aymeric Laporte continued to frustrate opponents. Cubars\u00ed is just 19 years old and the season he has had with Barcelona and now leading Spain into the World Cup final with six clean sheets makes him one of the most promising and accomplished teenage players in the world.<\/p>\n But with the midfield and defenders so well-connected, it puts less pressure on the attack. Spain does not need to score goals in droves. It can control games and be patient until the moment comes.<\/p>\n (Photo by Tullio Puglia – FIFA\/FIFA via Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY In what was billed as a blockbuster between arguably the two best teams in the world, Spain defeated France 2-0 in a surprisingly convincing fashion. Spain took advantage of French mistakes, used slick passing to maintain possession, and pressed relentlessly to down the French at Atlanta Stadium.\u00a0 Spain was in control […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}